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A pandemic with thousands of deaths was required for the crisis in the elderly to be taken seriously.
This is the opinion of the president of the union council, Tobias Baudin, who criticizes both the experts of the Public Health Authority and the main politicians.
– When we have addressed deficiencies, we have been told that we should not paint black, he says.
On Tuesday, the S / MP government and associated parties C and L presented another crisis package for health and care, which now received a total of SEK 5 billion to cope with the effects of the crisis of the crown.
This involves training 10,000 substitutes for nurses and nursing assistants. But also to replace municipalities and regions with additional personnel, overtime and the purchase of equipment during the pandemic.
Tobias Baudin’s rating is “good, but not enough.”
Municipal President Tobias Baudin.
In addition to more employees, better employment conditions, a work environment and wages are also needed to make more people want to take the jobs that exist, he says.
– More than half a million must be employed in this sector by 2026.
Do you want to increase well-being?
Tobias Baudin points out that the problems were great in elder care even before the pandemic. The sick leave rate was “clearly higher” across all industries.
– Twice higher rates of sick leave than in the construction sector, for example, and is generally considered a difficult sector. Here there are no shortcuts, you have to hire more. It is very rare in elderly care today, he says.
Photo: HENRIK MONTGOMERY / TT
A nurse helps an older person who lives in Stockholm. Stock Photography.
The municipal president thinks that all welfare should receive a boost in the future.
– It would cost about 30 billion annually. But it is very little money compared to the billions and billions that the state has on the business during this crisis.
I have warned
The fact that more than 3,300 people have died as a result of the crown pandemic so far is largely explained by the fact that the infection has entered nursing homes and home service.
That causes Baudin to be condemned.
He believes the union warned of such development at an early stage, but was not taken seriously.
The focus of the politicians has been on emergency medical care, he believes.
– It is good with a strong focus on medical care, it has been and is difficult there. But we immediately saw that medical care was much more equipped for a pandemic than the elderly.
– More than half of the elderly have not had access to protective equipment. Training levels are lacking and a large proportion of staff is hourly. You haven’t done anything about it. It’s only now that you start talking about it.
Too clear of FHM
Baudin believes that experts from the Public Health Authority have also failed during the crisis.
He thinks that the authority has not been very clear in his guidelines on protective equipment for the elderly, such as visors and oral protection.
Photo: Jerker Ivarsson
The public health authority has been too ambiguous in its guidelines, thinks the municipal president.
Too much responsibility has been left to employers to decide.
– As chairman of Sweden’s largest professional group, junior nurses, I am upset when experts say there are problems with mouth protection because staff forget to wash their hands. It is degrading.
Tobias Baudin says it is sad that thousands of lives are required for people to open their eyes to the crisis in elder care.
Politicians have not been interested, he says.
– You may have seen the crisis but have not spoken about it, for example, we could see it in the last electoral movement. It has been frustrating.
“Don’t pay with applause”
Instead, the signal has been that Kommunal should not paint care black when the union tried to alleviate the problems that exist, Tobias Baudin notes. But without wanting to reveal who said it.
At the same time, he is now putting pressure on all those who speak today of “the heroes in care and attention.”
– Yes, they are heroes, it is they who lead Sweden through this. But then I guess people don’t forget it after the crown. You can show your support for these occupational groups this fall when the hiring business begins.
– It is good that people applaud. But you can’t pay the fallow basket at the Ica box with applause.
Tobias Baudin
Name: Åke Sigurd Tobias Baudin
Years: 45 years
Profession: President of the Federation of Kommunal, Sweden’s largest LO association, since 2016. Previously LO first vice president, 2012–2014, and trained in control and control technology. He worked as an ice machine driver in Luleå.
lives: Stockholm
Family: Wife and two children
Income: SEK 84,707 per month.
Curiosities: Initially, he was selected as a likely successor to Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson as president of LO. But he announced early that he was not interested. “I am passionate about this, I want to continue to fight every day to ensure that nurses, nurses, child care workers, bus drivers and firefighters get better conditions.”
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