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In a recent book (Freedom and Solidarity: On Health as a Human Right), award-winning history professor Timothy Snyder reflects on health care in his home country of the United States. There, aid is “managed” by the market, that is, by private companies, while aid in European welfare states is largely financed by taxes.
This is an opinion piece on Smålandsposten. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Snyder knows from personal experience that the difference between the US and Europe in quality of care can be huge. As an example, he mentions that in Austria, newborn women are guaranteed four days of free aftercare. In the United States, mothers and their families have to pay a high price for each extra day in the hospital, something that most of the population cannot afford.
The question is to what extent care funded by the Swedish society establishes patient care. As part of the public sector, the Swedish healthcare system is run more or less like a company. Demands for efficiency overshadow the consideration and care of the individual. What is written in computerized medical records is more important than listening to each patient’s personal experiences of their situation. Minimizing the costs of public care doesn’t get much more humane than maximizing the profits of private care companies. Patients are seen as objects of cost, not unique people.
At Smålandsposten on January 25, we were able to read that elderly people receiving home care in Växjö municipality, on average, meet a new caregiver every day. This is figuratively “sick”. It is a guarantee that a personal relationship can never be established between caregivers and caregivers. Something that both would benefit from. The former has his special needs, often living alone and seeking human contact. Many caregivers are new citizens and are seeking avenues of contact with Swedish society.
In times of today’s pandemic, the risk of infection between caregivers and caregivers is multiplied by constantly new meetings. But it is forgotten when home care is only seen as a logistical problem where food and other services must be delivered as soon as possible. And it happens best if caregivers and recipients of care don’t know each other. Then the risk that they start talking to each other decreases, to worry about others.
Unfortunately, it’s not just home care service employees who are forced to let efficiency take priority over care. This applies to all aspects of care, including hospital care. By not taking the time to listen to the special needs of individual patients, which are often expressed by family members, it is easier to create administrative routines that save time and therefore money in the short term. But in the long run, this often leads to increased costs for the care system. And always to a greater suffering of the patient.
There is something rotten in the Swedish care apparatus when patients within hospital walls while awaiting treatment can break their arms and legs due to poor supervision, while home caregivers during their home visits to older people are taking care of themselves are prohibited from performing tasks that for the user have been everyday tasks.
Bengt Johannisson, professor and organizational researcher
Unfortunately, it’s not just home care employees who are forced to let efficiency take precedence over care. This applies to all aspects of care, including hospital care.
