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During Tuesday’s press conference, Health Director Björn Eriksson said there are signs of a further spread of the infection in the county, although it is still at relatively low levels. Last week, 526 cases of covid-19 were found in the region, of the 27,535 analyzed. To compare with 334 of 25,474 analyzed the previous week, according to the Public Health Agency figures.
– If this continues to rise, we could soon be in a serious situation again, says Björn Eriksson.
Also state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell confirmed, at the Public Health Agency press conference, that talks are being held with Stockholm, due to the spread of the infection.
– Here we have a discussion with Stockholm about whether we may need to introduce another opportunity for measures to reduce the spread of the infection here in Stockholm. Exactly what it will be, we are discussing.
Anders Tegnell says there are discussions about introducing measures to reduce the spread of the infection in Stockholm County.
Photo: Amir Nabizadeh / TT
During the Stockholm Region press conference, new figures on the region’s care debt were also released. According to these, the proportion of reception visits is now roughly the same level as this time in 2019. At the same time, however, a smaller proportion receive their treatment under the 90-day guarantee of care. That number has dropped from 75 percent to 61 percent.
– It is always serious that people have had to wait. And we know that people have been injured because they had to wait, due to the pandemic. That you would have already had a new hip or a new knee in the middle of spring, for example. And that’s quite irrational, says Björn Eriksson.
The care that has been allowed to rest back deals with the care that has been advanced due to the pandemic, but also the care needs that have arisen through covid-19, such as aftercare and rehabilitation, the care needs that have been discovered through examinations and controls and care that patients have not sought during the pandemic. Björn Eriksson says the region’s goal is for care debt to be paid off in one year.
– But you need to know that we usually provide a lot of care to meet the need for care, so on top of that. We need to go the extra mile to deal with it.
How should healthcare personnel deal with this, considering how the year has been so far?
– It has been very stressful for the staff. We must take it carefully so that it becomes sustainable and do it in such a way that they can have rest and recovery in the meantime.
How to do it?
– Yes, it really depends on each caregiver. What I can contribute is that we set clear priorities, that we take those who are most in need of care first.
Medical and Health Director Björn Eriksson announces that two patients are receiving intensive care. But in the image also the Regional Council of Health and Medical Care Anna Starbrink (L).
Photo: Jonas Lindkvist
The Minister of Health and Regional Health Anna Starbrink (left) was also present. She says care will need to set medical priorities for those who are awaiting care.
– Some of those who have waited a while will have to wait at another time because there are others who have greater needs. But an individual assessment must be made in each case.
She says they are resource additions that the region receives from the State to cover its health debt, which according to officials in the region amounts to 1.9 billion, seems to be enough, but there are great challenges.
– The financial conditions exist to pay the care debt, but we also have a bigger picture. It’s that our tax revenues are falling, public transportation costs are increasing, ticket revenues are falling. We do not receive compensation for this and this means that we have enormous demands to streamline and save money in operations in the region.
Oppositionsregionråd Talla Alkurdi (S) believes that the regional government does not prioritize patients with the greatest need.
– It is not enough to say that those who most need attention go first, we must direct the economy there. We know that in primary care there are many undetected cancers because people do not apply to health centers, so the region must provide these more resources.
Anna Starbrink agrees that more investment is needed in primary care.
– With the resources we have, we will prioritize primary care. Many of the most seriously ill are primary care patients.
What are you going to do specifically?
– We are currently discussing the budget and yesterday we received information from the government about the state subsidies that we will receive, so it is not yet clear what our budget will be like. My message is that it will be quite bleak in the future, but despite that, we want to ensure that primary care continues to develop.
Who will notice that it will be gloomy?
– It is too early to say yet that we will have to review working methods and try to work more efficiently, among other things. We have already decided to postpone some things that we think are important, like the two emergency rooms that were planned.
