Response to interpellation 2025/26:442 on statements regarding eating disorder care in Region Stockholm
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerned statements regarding eating disorder care in Region Stockholm. KD argues that the government is making a unique investment through national guidelines, development teams, and substantial state grants to improve accessibility and quality 1 2. KD emphasizes that the government prioritizes psychiatry and that the focus should be on the factual issue 3 4. KD believes that humility is important as the care does not function well enough 3 4. KD argues that eating disorder diagnoses have increased sharply and that measures are being taken for a better meal situation at Stockholm's center 4. S argues that the Finance Minister's statements lack a factual basis and are a political strategy to spread misleading information 5 6. S believes that Members of Parliament should scrutinize the government's statements, which risk contributing to uncertainty 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)
Madam Speaker! Markus Kallifatides has asked the Minister for Finance if she maintains that the leadership in Region Stockholm is raising taxes and closing eating disorder clinics because one cannot understand that one can prioritize and have a tax policy that benefits hard-working people. Furthermore, Markus Kallifatides has asked the Minister for Finance if she, if that is not the case, intends to take any measures within her area of responsibility in relation to patients, relatives, staff, officials, and responsible politicians in Region Stockholm, and if so, which ones.
The work within the government is distributed in such a way that it is I who shall answer the interpellation.
As I answered Markus Kallifatides on interpellation 2025/26:27 and Mathias Tegnér on interpellation 2025/26:57 on October 24, 2025, the National Board of Health and Welfare notes that there are deficiencies in today's care for various eating disorders. These concern equality, accessibility, care provision, quality, knowledge, competence, and waiting times for treatment. At the same time, highly specialized care is underutilized. There is a great need for improvements.
Supporting the regions in the development of care for persons with eating disorder issues is a priority area for this government. The government has taken several initiatives aimed at addressing deficiencies affecting this patient group. To mention some initiatives, the National Board of Health and Welfare, on behalf of the government, has developed national guidelines for care and support for eating disorders. The guidelines are intended to improve care and make it more equitable (S2022/03297). The authority has also been tasked with supporting the implementation of these and associated knowledge support (S2025/01181).
In addition, the National Board of Health and Welfare has decided that certain care for severe eating disorders shall constitute national highly specialized care, which is currently provided at five units. Three of these also provide such care for children and young people.
The Government has further tasked Socialstyrelsen to establish national development teams that shall provide the regions with practical and operationally close support in their development of psychiatry for increased quality, accessibility, and efficiency (S2025/00657).
The Government has entered into an agreement with Sveriges Kommuner och Regioner, SKR, regarding increased accessibility to child and adolescent psychiatry with a substantial reinforcement of state grants. These amounted to 1 billion kronor in 2025 (S2025/00394) and the same amount in 2026 (S2026/00198).
A targeted investment of 50 million kronor was carried out during 2025 to increase accessibility to child and adolescent psychiatry and to shorten queues, with a particular focus on care for eating disorders (S2025/01235), by among other things promoting transition to highly specialized care. The Government also allocated 100 million kronor during 2026 for the strengthening of eating disorder care and estimates allocating an additional 100 million kronor per year until 2028 (prop. 2025/26:1, utg.omr. 9).
In addition, the government has had targeted initiatives on adult psychiatry. During 2025, 250 million kronor were allocated to expand the number of care beds in adult psychiatry, 200 million kronor to increase the number of places for self-selected admission within full-time care (S2025/01235) and 50 million kronor to develop and facilitate transitions between child and adolescent psychiatry and adult psychiatry (S2025/01181).
During 2026, the government invested 1.5 billion kronor so that national development initiatives shall be carried out to support the regions in the work of strengthening specialized psychiatric care for adults with a particular focus on increased care capacity. The government intends to allocate an additional 1.5 billion kronor in 2027 and 1.2 billion in 2028 (S2025/01528, S2025/02071 and S2026/00095).
In addition to this, the government distributed 1.56 billion SEK in state grants in 2025 (S2025/00155) through an agreement with SKR and 1.32 billion SEK in 2026 (S2025/02163) to support development in the area of mental health and suicide prevention. This initiative includes, in addition to care – including 24-hour care, compulsory care, and other complex care needs – also preventive and promotional work.
Furthermore, the government has clarified and strengthened the support for relatives – both adults and children – within the areas of social services and health and medical care (prop. 2025/26:60).
This is more than any other government has done. The government prioritizes psychiatry and eating disorder care. Now the regions need to step up and intensify their work.
Markus Kallifatides (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer! It did not really contain answers to my questions – I will come to that later.
Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson stated here in the chamber on September 22, 2025: Here in Stockholm, they raise taxes and shut down eating disorder clinics because they cannot understand that one can prioritize and have a tax policy that favors hard-working people.
The Prime Minister has, moreover, been on the same track, Madam Speaker.
Jakob Forssmed and I have already in a previous interpellation debate stated that there was a lack of factual background for these claims. The actual background was that during the previous and current mandate periods, a reorganization of eating disorder care in Region Stockholm has been underway with the aim of meeting fresh national guidelines for care to conduct much in outpatient care and also have highly specialized care in the area.
Madam Speaker! Now, the only company that no longer provides eating disorder treatment in Region Stockholm has also been ordered to pay back money that was incorrectly received as compensation from Region Stockholm.
This is the background to my repeated question to Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson, i.e., whether she now sees reason to change her previous statements and whether she sees any reason for measures from her side, within the framework of her official duties, in relation to patients, relatives and responsible politicians in Region Stockholm. My question therefore concerns Elisabeth Svantesson's statement on this.
Jakob Forssmed gave me a long answer about what the government does and does not do in important areas within Swedish health and medical care. That is not my question.
Given that I have not received an answer from either Elisabeth Svantesson or Jakob Forssmed regarding Elisabeth Svantesson's statements, I am formulating the questions this time. Should we understand it, Madam Speaker, as that these statements about the eating disorder care in Region Stockholm, so to speak, are so embarrassing that Elisabeth Svantesson herself does not want to answer my and others' questions about them? Or is it possibly as we have noted previously, Madam Speaker, that is to say that nonsense about healthcare activities in Region Stockholm is such an important part of the Tidö group's election strategy this election year that one somehow wants to continue?
Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)
Madam Speaker! The answer should be interpreted as that I am the responsible minister for issues concerning eating disorder care and care and support for persons with eating disorder issues.
That is how the regulations are structured: It is the minister who has responsibility for the issues that come to the chamber for discussion. The member might have drawn that conclusion last time he interpellated a minister regarding various statements that had been made some year and it was then I who came here and answered the questions. That is how it looks – that is how the regulations that the Government Offices are subject to are formulated – and that is why it is I who am here.
Now it is the second time I am here to discuss specific statements about eating disorder care rather than eating disorder care itself. Eating disorder care in Sweden does not function well enough. That is why we need the national guidelines, and that is why they need to be followed up. That is why we need interventions from Socialstyrelsen to ensure that children and young people in need of eating disorder care receive it. That is why the government is making a unique investment in eating disorder care.
Do the members know that we today have highly specialized eating disorder care where beds stand empty because regions do not refer patients to them? Despite the fact that there are people in need of care, beds stand empty. It is extremely upsetting, I think, and that is why we are now making these targeted investments. I believe that those types of questions are more interesting to discuss than exactly who said what during some individual year – at least here in the chamber of the Riksdag.
I am very keen that the extensive national initiatives that are now being undertaken, and which I accounted for in my response, reach the patients. This applies to both the initiative we are undertaking regarding eating disorder care in Sweden, the extensive initiative we are undertaking regarding accessibility within child and adolescent psychiatry, and our major initiatives on adult psychiatry.
I also think it is good for the member to be a little humble regarding this. It is not as if everything in the eating disorder care in Stockholm works perfectly? Representatives for the member's own party have, for example, said that the food situation is not sufficient and must be improved, and I know that my own party colleagues also believe that. A new kitchen was needed, which ensures that eating disorder patients get good food so that we can avoid discussing the different meals that do not look appetizing. Then I know there may be reasons why the food looks a certain way at a certain time, but that the food is not good enough has also been said by the member's own party.
It is the same thing when one reorganizes a healthcare operation. I do not want to discuss it in any particular extent, but it is clear that patients can get caught in the crossfire. It is clear that there are reasons to have some humility regarding this – and also regarding that patients in this context have received help from private companies that have provided eating disorder care in a certain way. Some patients have perceived that way as very positive and as having helped them toward a recovery.
It is just a matter of a joint effort in this debate, that is to say, not to focus solely on individual statements from different people and ministers, but also to direct the gaze toward what one can do oneself – namely, to make the eating disorder care better.
Markus Kallifatides (S)
Madam Speaker! I can assure Jakob Forssmed that I have a deep commitment to ensuring that Swedish health and medical care functions well.
I am, however, not a member of the Committee on Health and Welfare, and I do not participate in committee debates on health and medical care, social care, etc. I am a Member of Parliament from the City of Stockholm, and I have asked concrete questions to Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson regarding her statements. I have repeated those questions to Jakob Forssmed, who I know is here to answer my questions – but who does not do so.
The question concerns whether Elisabeth Svantesson is prepared to take responsibility for her previous obviously misleading and baseless claims regarding this important area. I am not here to discuss healthcare in Region Stockholm. I am not here to discuss and delve into eating disorder care; I lack knowledge in that area.
Eating disorder care is an important and difficult healthcare area. Since it often involves comorbidity situations for these often fragile patients, a broad palette of competence is required to conduct the healthcare activities in a really good way. I want to point out that the accessibility to that type of care has increased very significantly in Region Stockholm during this parliamentary term. It is, however, important to be very humble regarding this, and I intend to continue to be.
Jakob Forssmed raised a specific issue that has also been present in the general debate, namely the one that has concerned food. It has been reported that just that issue has been addressed by Region Stockholm and that a decision has been made to build a completely new preparation kitchen at Danderyd Hospital. Care in Region Stockholm is conducted very seriously, including from the Social Democratic government.
The eating disorder care in Region Stockholm has become something of a theme, Madam Speaker. There are statements not only from the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Social Services, but also from the Minister for Education, the Minister for Employment, the Minister for EU Affairs, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and the Deputy Prime Minister. Here a pattern emerges – a political strategy: One is trying to convey an image of the situation in a specifically sensitive and important healthcare activity.
My interpellation may be a bit repetitive because this is the second time I am asking questions regarding the same statements, but that is what my interpellation is about. What kind of political strategy is this? I note that Jakob Forssmed – as far as I can see – does not participate in the dissemination of obviously groundless and misleading information about specific healthcare activities in Region Stockholm, and that is appreciated by many. But who is it that has supposedly decided that this is how it should go this election year?
Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)
Madam Speaker! Again: I cannot comment on the formal question any more than I have already. That is how the rules are regarding who answers interpellations here in the chamber.
If one wants to have a more general political debate about different people's statements during 2025, perhaps another venue than the chamber of the Riksdag is more appropriate. Here, I think, we should discuss the issue at hand. The Member of Parliament says that he has no deeper knowledge of the issue, but it might be good to acquire that knowledge before saying that all these statements are groundless, misleading, and so on.
I think it is good to have a humble tone in this debate, because these are difficult questions. It is easy for people to get caught in the middle. We know that eating disorder care does not function well enough. It does not function well enough in Stockholm, and so it is also in many other places in the country. It is a difficult issue. This concerns not least very fragile and vulnerable people who need to receive good support and help. There is often comorbidity, and this is a disease that one often, at least at the beginning, denies even having. It requires special interventions.
In that way, it is not so strange that the issue is being discussed. There are many who are vulnerable, and we know that eating disorder diagnoses have increased very significantly during recent years. We know that children and young people are fed pro-anorexia content on social media, which can accelerate – and drive forward – this type of behavior.
I think it is excellent that Markus Kallifatides party in Stockholm has now drawn conclusions regarding deficiencies in eating disorder care concerning the food situation. It is something that many have called for for a long time, and now they are – at last – drawing conclusions and taking measures to achieve a better meal situation at Stockholm's center for eating disorders.
I think, as I have said, that this is excellent. It also shows that there are reasons to highlight this care, which for a long time has not really had this spotlight on it. The scientific basis may not always have been the best, but it is something that we are trying to change now. We provide funds to the regions so that they shall refer more patients. More national guidelines are being developed, and these are followed up and evaluated. Very soon, an evaluation will be conducted on how things look in Swedish eating disorder care. In this way, we can make it better.
This is far more productive than repeatedly discussing individual persons' statements in a debate on this; it is at least my opinion.
Markus Kallifatides (S)
Madam Speaker! My view is that it is the duty of Members of Parliament to scrutinize the government. This includes statements that are made and which risk contributing to uncertainty, discomfort, and in the worst case, a reluctance to seek and place one's trust in the help and support that exists. It is serious when groundless and misleading claims are spread about important – sometimes life-saving – health and medical care activities.
I note, for the second time, that Elisabeth Svantesson neither herself nor through Jakob Forssmed wants to answer the questions I have asked regarding her statements. No answers will come to the questions. Nor will there be any answer as to whether the Finance Minister, through a proxy, Social Minister Jakob Forssmed, intends to take any measures in connection with the statements.
On the other hand, a number of thoughts from the Minister for Social Affairs regarding important healthcare activities are presented. There is probably a great deal of consensus between our two parties here. However, that is not what this debate is about.
Madam Speaker! A pattern emerges for me: Now that the profits of school corporations and systems of private health insurance are to be protected, when enormous subsidies are to be paid out to new nuclear power, when tax cuts for high-income earners are to be defended, and when the opinion polls are bad, misleading claims and even outright lies about Region Stockholm are used as political strategy. It is deplorable.
Socialministern Jakob Forssmed (KD)
Madam Speaker! We are therefore taking a long series of measures to improve Swedish eating disorder care. That is our focus. No previous government has done more when it comes to investments in psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry, in increasing accessibility and raising quality, and in ensuring that we get a capacity increase in the entire psychiatric care. It is indeed incredibly urgent, given how neglected it has been for a long time.
This is about some of society's most fragile and vulnerable people, and it is important to focus on providing them with the best possible care and support. There may certainly be differences in views on methods and other things, but that is where my focus lies. I intend to continue to have that focus, and I believe that the citizens think that is more pressing than discussing individual statements from different people here in the chamber.
The government is firmly determined to continue on the chosen course and strengthen eating disorder care and psychiatry, as well as ensure that the national guidelines achieve greater impact. It is urgent, both in Stockholm and in the rest of the country.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.