[ad_1]
– What we want is for them to be safe where they are and not infect others, says Åsa Furén-Thulin, head of social services in the municipalities and regions of Sweden, SKR.
SKR has received signals of several municipalities that it has been difficult to distinguish between sick and healthy people in nursing homes because it is not allowed to close the wards and move people against their will. Therefore, the government has been asked to amend the Infection Control Law so that older people with covid-19, without their consent, can be transferred to special wards in the short term or can be locked in a ward.
But it is important that people are not left alone. During the day, Ekot’s review was able to show how employees and family members across the country alerted around 15 times that older people with dementia had their rooms closed with, for example, sofas or armchairs for the doors of the elderly.
In some cases have This has led IVO to investigate nursing homes.
– If you are insane and locked in your room, it can mean that you have many difficulties, anxiety and you feel bad. You can’t do that, but you have to find other solutions, says Åsa Furén-Thulin.
What do you think of what has happened in various places in Sweden?
– Not well.
The Government has commissioned the National Board of Health and Welfare and the Swedish Public Health Agency to investigate how to address this problem in the care of the elderly.
There are objections against an amendment to the law with reference to the fact that it would be contrary to the freedom and constitutionally protected rights of the elderly to give the opportunity to lock people up in closed rooms without their consent.
Åsa Furén-Thulin points out that what has happened in the cases where Ekot reports is not what SKR wants to achieve with a change in the law, but that it may be necessary to make a decision on isolation without the consent of the resident.
– I understand that this is a very difficult issue for the government and I fully respect it. But from the perspective of municipalities, I almost think that it is more restrictive of the constitution to be able to protect both the infected and others.
