Response to interpellations 2023/24:442 and 448 on unserious healthcare providers within elderly care
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns unserious healthcare providers within elderly care. M argues that the government safeguards freedom of choice and competition to improve quality 1 and has taken measures to stop unserious actors as well as strengthen supervision via Ivo 1. M emphasizes that elderly care is a municipal issue where more trained nursing assistants are needed 2 and that the government focuses on solutions through solid reform work 3 4. M wants careful follow-up of residential homes 5 and that tax money is prioritized for the core of welfare 6. S considers that the government prioritizes the market over security 7 and that underfunding as well as the pursuit of profit leads to neglect, lower wages, and understaffing 8 9 10 11. S argues that long-term state grants are required for competence development 9 and warns that a lack of resources leads to cuts and a poorer work environment 12.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Speakers (14)
Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)
Mr. Speaker! Mikael Dahlqvist has asked me in what way I intend to work with the lack of control regarding private providers within elderly care. Mikael Dahlqvist has also asked me what measures I and the government will take to ensure good elderly care for everyone.
Sofie Eriksson has asked me if I have taken note of the situation in Mora. Sofie Eriksson has also asked me what measures I intend to take so that Sweden's municipalities can take responsibility for elderly care. Sofie Eriksson has finally asked me what initiatives I intend to take regarding neglect by profit-driven companies within elderly care.
Mr. Speaker! The starting point for elderly care shall be security and humanity. Those who are elderly, multi-morbid, or have a chronic disease shall receive secure, coordinated care and care of good quality. In the Social Services Act (2001:453), there are provisions that interventions shall be of good quality and that there shall be staff with appropriate education and experience when tasks within social services are performed. The quality of the operations shall also be systematically and continuously developed and secured. Each municipality is responsible in its capacity as the principal for elderly care and must fulfill the requirements according to current law. The reports from Mora describe an unacceptable situation.
The Government safeguards freedom of choice and the individual's right to choose providers of welfare services. Functional competition in the care market can create better conditions for both municipal and private operations to continue working to improve quality and to increase competence in the operations. Freedom of choice can be beneficial for both users and staff. But unserious actors do not belong in elderly care. Lack of quality cannot be accepted, whether it concerns municipal or private operations. The Government has therefore taken several measures to stop unserious actors and strengthen the quality of elderly care.
On 1 January 2024, the government gave the Health and Social Care Inspectorate, Ivo, a mandate to strengthen and develop its work during 2024-2026 to prevent and counter welfare crime and the presence of unscrupulous actors within care. Since 2019, it has also been required to obtain a permit from Ivo to operate activities within several welfare areas, such as home care and special housing for the elderly. Ivo is responsible for the supervision of all activities, regardless of who operates them.
Furthermore, the municipalities are responsible for ensuring that the actors who perform social services funded by the municipality fulfill the requirements they have agreed upon in their contracts. I also want to emphasize the so-called lex Sarah provision in the Social Services Act. It is very important that knowledge of that provision exists in elderly care and that the provision is followed very closely. The National Board of Health and Welfare shall continuously update and develop the support regarding lex Sarah.
The Government has also taken other measures to strengthen elderly care. In the budget bill for 2024, one of the largest investments was increased state grants to municipalities and regions to be able to maintain and strengthen welfare, including elderly care. The Government has also extended the so-called Elderly Care Boost (Äldreomsorgslyftet) and allocates 1.7 billion SEK for 2024 to develop competence within elderly care; this continues in 2025 and 2026. The Government also strengthens elderly care in other ways, including through the Inquiry on Language Requirements for Staff in Elderly Care (S 2023:03) and the Inquiry on Strengthened Medical Competence in Municipal Health and Medical Care (S 2023:07).
The government continues, of course, to support the municipalities' implementation of welfare technology and is working to develop dementia care.
Mikael Dahlqvist (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister very much for her answer to my interpellation regarding the lack of care and nursing provided by private healthcare providers to our elderly.
Unfortunately, this question is becoming increasingly relevant. Above all, we are met daily, I want to assert, by reports of welfare crime, which is also a part of this problem. But from time to time, scandals also occur within elderly care. In addition to the individual and relatives being affected, an enormous amount of money also disappears, which would actually be very much needed in our common welfare as it looks today. Now my interpellation concerns elderly care, but this type of unscrupulous entrepreneur exists within all welfare activities.
Against this background, significantly more must be done. Here, I believe that the government and the responsible minister have a great responsibility to close the loopholes. It is good that the government has tasked Ivo with reviewing its work against unserious actors. It is also good that the government refers to several reforms that the Social Democratic-led government took the initiative for, investigated, and sent out for consultation. But it is not enough.
Unfortunately, Anna Tenje, the answer to the interpellation confirms that what is most important for the Minister and the Government is the market. The Minister says: "The Government safeguards freedom of choice and the individual's right to choose providers of welfare services. Functional competition in the care market can create better conditions for both municipal and private operations." Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the Government is driven too much by ideological conviction and over-reliance on the market and chooses to turn a blind eye to the risks that exist and the incentives that are created when there are large sums of money in circulation. The price for freedom of choice, I believe, is what our citizens are paying.
A few months ago, we could read about neglect in Mora. Mora had put two elderly care homes out on contract, after which a number of serious deficiencies were discovered. A number of elderly people had not been showered for several months. A bundle of complaints has reached Ivo. It has even been described that elderly people had dried feces in their buttocks. The staff considered themselves grossly understaffed and threatened to resign.
This is what has happened in a concrete case. And unfortunately, it will happen again, Mr. Speaker. There is a failure in control and follow-up. The regulatory framework must be tightened.
Despite the Minister for Seniors' response to the interpellation, I believe the questions remain. What does the Minister for Seniors and the government intend to do concretely to increase control over private providers within elderly care? And what does the government, above all, intend to do more to ensure that we get a safe and good elderly care for everyone?
Sofie Eriksson (S)
Mr. Speaker! Everyone must be able to trust Swedish elderly care. It is about both people who have worked and contributed during their professional lives receiving the best elderly care and that everyone who works in care deserves fair conditions and a good working environment.
Unfortunately, there are many examples of this not working. The latest in the series is the situation that has been uncovered in Mora municipality in Dalarna. It concerns nursing homes operated by a Danish limited company. There, an elderly man with dementia has starved to death, according to relatives. Others have not been showered for weeks, sometimes months. Diapers have been worn for several days, and medications have been missed. There are elderly people who have been left lying in their own feces. One can ask what choice these people with dementia have had.
Both of these residences have been described as severely understaffed. At one of them, the situation has been so serious that it has been described as the staff having kept the residents alive by a thread. The serious incidents have not been reported to the municipality. It then becomes quite difficult to conduct oversight activities.
It is not just about private operations. Last year, a woman who worked in the municipal home care service in Mora passed away when she stressed between shifts. Colleagues of hers have highlighted the strong minute-management as a reason for this.
Mr. Speaker! Elderly care is a municipal responsibility. But it is completely obvious that the problem is national - it exists in almost our entire country. This is just one example among very many.
The Corona Commission has stated that the structural problems existing in Swedish elderly care also contributed to increased spread of infection and mortality among the elderly. Four out of ten employees lack education. Almost 25 percent are hourly employees; within private care, it is even more. There is no slack in the system, and it leads to that the preparedness is zero and nothing in particularly stressed situations.
Mr. Speaker! Right now, many municipalities are being forced to save money. The Finance Minister has signaled further tax cuts. This is happening at the same time as the elderly are not receiving enough food. Concern is growing now that the conditions will worsen regardless of the provider.
I mean that the structural problems we see in Swedish elderly care are a scandal that has been allowed to rot in full daylight. People have walked by and watched, and far too many have allowed the rot to spread. People look away.
At the same time, hundreds of thousands of employees struggle day and night to maintain an important, good, and dignified care. And it is good in many places, but the conditions are substandard. In this country, priority has been given to lowering taxes instead of investing in care. This is felt in people's bodies. Underfunding and understaffing are felt in the bodies, both of those who live in and need the care and of those who work in it.
I therefore wonder: What does the Minister intend to do to organize Swedish elderly care and ensure that it has sufficient resources? What does the Minister intend to do to put a stop to the profit-seeking, which leads to neglect and poorer working conditions?
Malin Höglund (M)
Mr. Speaker! We must be able to trust Swedish elderly care in all 290 municipalities in the country. We must be able to trust that elderly care in Dalarna County, with 15 municipalities, is conducted in a good way. In Mora, which Member Eriksson refers to, we have municipal housing, two housing units on contract, and one staff cooperative; we therefore have nine different housing units.
In elderly care, there is staff at different levels: staff who provide care and staff who make beds, clean, handle the food and eat together with the elderly. There is also staff who exercise leadership, who are managers. The leadership is incredibly important for those who work on the floor. This entire mix shall ensure that there is good care for the elderly who can no longer live at home.
I was previously the chairman of the social welfare committee, from 2015 to 2022. The residence that member Eriksson refers to was actually one of the better ones. It was completed on a contract basis under the Social Democrats' leadership in the social welfare committee.
Elderly care is a municipal issue. The government is investing in a continued elderly care boost, which is very good; it is really needed. We need more trained nursing assistants who will perform care at our special housing for the elderly. This investment, I believe, will be needed for very many years.
We need more people working in welfare professions and more nursing assistants, not fewer. But with the Social Democrats' scaremongering, which I sometimes encounter, I think elderly care is getting a bad reputation. Who will then want to continue working there, and who will apply for jobs within elderly care? More education is needed, and we need to strengthen professional pride - not blacken it.
There are many skilled, committed, and proud employees throughout our 290 municipalities, whether it concerns activities in municipal administration, under contract, or in personnel cooperatives. I would like to take the time to thank everyone who works in elderly care, regardless of whether it is operated by private contractors or in municipal administration.
Lena Bäckelin (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Sofie and Mikael, for your both important interpellations! And thank you, Minister, for the answer! I would, however, like to receive an answer from the Minister, actually on both interpellations but above all on the question of what measures the Minister intends to take so that Sweden's municipalities can take responsibility for elderly care.
It should be safe to grow old in Sweden. This was the message in a debate article that I and my party, Socialdemokraterna, wrote at the beginning of the 2022 election campaign based on, among other things, the experiences during the pandemic we went through. At that time, everyone thought that elderly care would be at the top of the agenda for the next election and that the politicians would provide the resources that had been seen to be lacking.
But the election campaign soon collided with populist moves and promises - or maybe I should say blue tints, because it was completely different tones and a completely different focus later in the election campaign. I believe that many with me, especially many female voters, were disappointed with the election campaign and what has happened after the election - or rather has not happened - when it comes to strengthening elderly care.
We Social Democrats want the elderly to be able to decide for themselves about their lives and their everyday lives, regardless of whether it concerns participation in working life or what help one wants from home care and nursing care. In this way, we create a stronger and safer society in Sweden.
On TV4 Nyheterna last Wednesday, the enormous needs that exist today and in the future within elderly care, which persist after the pandemic, were highlighted. The elderly researcher Ingmar Skoog was interviewed there, who highlighted the needs that arise with an aging population. The number of people over 80 is expected to increase by 30 percent by 2030. It is only six years away. He argues that this will, among other things, place higher demands on relatives. Today, approximately 100,000 people reduce their working hours to manage the care of their elderly loved ones. It will also increase the pressure on staff within elderly care who are already heavily strained, who today are struggling and are loyal and working hard.
This requires a government that sees its citizens and their needs, not least the needs of the elderly. With will, it is possible to achieve change.
The demographics and the number of elderly in my home municipality Härjedalen and in my region, Jämtland Härjedalen, together with staff recruitment and training of future staff, are among the biggest challenges. Add to that the resource shortage due to insufficient state grants. SKR estimates the deficit in the municipalities to be approximately 30 billion in the year 2024. In that case, there will be no investments in the elderly, but rather savings.
Mr. Speaker! It is not only my home municipality and my home region that see the need for long-term state grants and that these could ensure that the funds go towards development and adaptation of the operations and towards skills development at the pace that is needed.
The question of trained staff and how we are to solve the labor shortage is important, not least for elderly care. I will return to this in my next post.
Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, all members, for your participation in the debate so far, and also thank you for the questions that were asked! I will do my best to try to provide some more answers than I perhaps managed to do in my opening statement.
There seems to be a great consensus that elderly care is one of the most important parts of the core of the welfare state and that in the autumn of our lives we should be able to feel secure that the expectations one has will be met and that the needs one has will be ensured. Therefore, I think it is important and pleasing to be able to say that the government has initiated a solid reform work to strengthen elderly care at various levels.
It is exactly as many members have pointed out: During the pandemic, in the Corona Commission's report and in Ivo's reviews, it emerged quite clearly what challenges and deficiencies exist within Swedish elderly care. In several cases, it was no great surprise, nor is it what concerns demographics and the fact that more and more people are getting older – just as more and more people, thank goodness, are living healthier. It is also no surprise for those of us who have been municipal politicians for a long time, but it still clearly showed that we need to address several different deficiencies.
Even though this may not always be in focus and grace the headlines, I can guarantee that as Minister for Pensions, I have these issues at the very top of the agenda. There are many local politicians across the country who prioritize exactly as I do.
That is why it is so gratifying that we could immediately initiate the investigation of the clear deficiencies pointed out by the Corona Commission and Ivo's review. Not least did it concern the language requirement within elderly care. It is about the fact that the elderly must be able to understand and be understood, but also that employees among themselves must be able to speak with one another. It is an important workplace environment issue. Ensuring patient safety and so on are hygiene factors, but one should also be able to have a better work environment together by de facto speaking the same language. The language investigation is therefore an important part of improving elderly care in the long term.
Furthermore, we have ensured that Äldreomsorgslyftet continues and is developed so that one can also use Äldreomsorgslyftet here and now to carry out language-supporting measures in special housing and within home care services.
The elderly care boost is important and has been an accurate state grant that I chose with pleasure to continue with, given that it provides results quite quickly. It can be utilized for competence development in many different ways. One can strengthen not least the important dementia care and ensure that nursing assistants gain greater knowledge there. One can, of course, get specialist nursing assistants when it comes to elderly people with multiple illnesses, who are perhaps the most commonly occurring. But one can also make interventions regarding welfare technology in order to be able to implement it in special housing and within home care to complement the employees' important work and to increase the safety and security for the elderly.
This important work must be done. As more and more people are getting older while fewer people want to work in elderly care, we must become better on so many different levels. There is no simple solution, but we need to work broadly, and we need to work together. This is what this government has chosen to prioritize.
Mikael Dahlqvist (S)
Mr. Speaker! Once again, thank you for your answer, Anna Tenje!
This interpellation is primarily about private healthcare providers that are unprofessional. Then, it is naturally, as pointed out by my party colleagues, an economic situation that is extremely troublesome for the country's municipalities when it comes to elderly care.
We agree that elderly care is a core part of the welfare system. However, the Minister must forgive me, but we do not agree on how much money is needed for the core of the welfare system, i.e., elderly care. It is already underfunded today and, according to all investigations, will be significantly underfunded over the next ten to fifteen years, partly due to our demographics.
I intend to return to the Minister a bit further ahead with interpellations specifically regarding the economics of elderly care, but I still think it is good that that question is raised.
I do not doubt that the SD-led government and the minister are truly taking the issue of unserious contractors seriously. I am completely convinced that we share the same view on that. But then one can wonder why the government does not choose to proceed with several completed investigations that the previous Social Democratic government commissioned.
For example, a government investigation already proposed in 2017 increased oversight in welfare and that private actors performing publicly funded activities should be covered by the principle of public access. The previous government wanted to proceed with this investigation, as it is also an important tool for both the public and the media to obtain transparency and thereby detect irregularities. But my question to the Minister is: Why did one choose to cancel this important work to obtain a better regulatory framework?
The second thing I am concerned about is that the government has signaled that it does not intend to proceed with the elderly care act, which the Social Democratic government also took the initiative for during the previous mandate period. It is based, among other things, on the desire to try to counteract the deficiencies we see in today's elderly care. Among other things, one of the main threads in the Corona Commission's criticism was that the medical preparedness in elderly care homes and in home care must be strengthened. This was included among the commission's proposals.
The investigation also suggested much more clarity regarding who is responsible for what and how one can prevent, develop, and strengthen quality. It is interesting to see that the government chooses to also put this legislative proposal in the "mop bag" (set aside).
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I want to be very clear that we Social Democrats are not against private providers in public activities. Most of the time, the debate is about us being against freedom of choice or private operations. The difference between the Social Democrats and the bourgeois politicians is that we believe that the tax crowns should go to what they are intended for. We believe that there should be control and order.
The highest responsible chief of the police intelligence service was asked: How can one plug this gap regarding welfare crime? His simple answer was: Remove the freedom of choice. He considered that there were not enough control mechanisms there.
Sofie Eriksson (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answers we have received! I want to start by saying that it is very good to have investigations into strengthening language skills and medical competence. It is good to extend the assistant nurse's qualification, which our government introduced.
Then I would like to move on and respond to Malin Höglund, who entered the debate here. It is still a bit brave to do so. Regarding one of the residences where there have been conditions of poor treatment, she made it sound as if it had been the same contractor all the way and that it had functioned well and then suddenly it did not function well. What happened was that there was a different contractor, and that happened during the time that Malin Höglund was the responsible chairperson of that committee. What responsibility does Malin Höglund think she herself has for the situation that has arisen in Mora municipality?
In addition, I want to address this by saying that people would blacken the picture as soon as one raises problems in Swedish elderly care. The question is whether anything becomes better if we sweep the problems under the rug. These are extremely important tasks. This is an extremely important activity. I do not believe that anyone who works in elderly care thinks it is good if we politicians pretend that everything is perfect. Rather, we should see the problems, raise them, and do what we can to rectify them.
The nursing assistants in Sweden are Sweden's largest professional group. I am myself the daughter of one of them. My mother Monica gave approximately 45 years, her entire professional life, to Swedish elderly care. When she describes the development within elderly care, she says it feels as if respect has been lost and as if one can always squeeze out a little more. Let us run a little faster and save a little more money!
My mother liked her work and her colleagues very much. She enjoyed working with providing care to people who needed it. She deserves politicians who see the problems, who highlight them and who try to do something about them, not politicians who pretend that everything is fine.
Mr. Speaker! Part of the problem concerns the pursuit of profit. It does not explain everything – I want to emphasize that – but part of it. The proportion of insecure employments and part-time jobs is higher with private providers. The wages are lower. The proportion who are satisfied with their jobs is lower. The proportion who want to continue in the profession for a longer period is also lower.
One can look at elderly care in general. There are many things that indicate that this needs to be properly organized. In a report from the trade union Kommunal, 35 percent answer that the insufficient staffing poses a risk to the elderly at least once a week. 13 percent answer that it poses a risk to the elderly every day. Only one in five answers that the staffing is sufficient.
It is dangerous with underfunding and understaffing in this type of activity. We live in a modern and wealthy society. If we cannot afford a dignified care for our elderly, then it is something that is really damn wrong.
It can be stated that if one is to be able to earn money from providing care, one must cut costs and increase revenues. What is it then that one saves on? Well, among other things, it is the staff. It is a gross understaffing that has led, for example, to neglect in Mora municipality by the private providers.
What does the Minister intend to do to guarantee that the resources are sufficient for elderly care? What does she intend to do to stop unserious actors from providing elderly care? What does she intend to do to organize so that the staffing becomes sufficient in all Swedish elderly care?
Malin Höglund (M)
Mr. Speaker! It is probably of no help that we politicians disparage elderly care that is not operated under municipal management. Follow-up is very important – I actually believe that we all here agree on that. Follow-up is A and O, so that one can see what is happening and what has gone wrong.
My wish is for a more thorough follow-up of housing managed under contract, but also of housing under municipal management. I would wish that we had the same follow-up of the private ones as of the municipal ones, because then it becomes easier to follow up.
Lena Bäckelin (S)
Mr. Speaker! The theme I want to raise is resources. There, I want to highlight an interview with the chairman of the trade union Kommunals, Malin Ragnegård, which I listened to over the weekend. It was about what she calls the austerity measures against the elderly, which the government is now delivering by the fact that the municipalities are facing the fact that far too few funds are provided from the state level.
She addressed, among other things, what her members are sounding the alarm about and the consequences of this. A survey was recently conducted among 2,700 representatives in 288 municipalities. 47 percent sounded the alarm that there will be cuts in municipalities this year.
Kommunal sees clear consequences and also warns of them. Malnutrition among the elderly can become worse. It can lead to tougher schedules, smaller portions, a stop for substitutes during sick leave, reduced staffing density, and lower competence in new hires. There are concerns about a worse working environment, and the quality of elderly care will become worse.
44 percent of Kommunals members cannot manage to work full-time today. Seven out of ten are worried that they will not be able to manage until retirement. It is serious. Kommunal wants to see a crisis commission. That says a great deal about the situation in the operations.
We cannot have it this way. Now the SD-supported government must act for the sake of the elderly, the relatives, the staff, and the municipalities.
Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)
Mr. Speaker! I must begin by stating that I am immensely proud of the Swedish welfare state. I am proud of Swedish elderly care, and I am very proud of the many skilled employees we have in elderly care who do a fantastic job.
In other countries and for colleagues whom I met, not least during the European Presidency, this is anything but a given.
With that said, it is not the case that our elderly care is flawless, that there are no deficiencies, and that there are no things that need to be addressed. I have been clear about that in my previous speeches.
It was clear in the Corona Commission's reports and in Ivo's review that there were deficiencies during the pandemic that needed to be addressed. That is exactly why I think it is pleasing that this government, unlike the previous government, focuses on solutions instead of just describing the problems.
We identify the problems. Then we deliver measures to deal with the problems we see. We see now that the language requirement is on its way. It should have happened a long time ago. It is not good when the staff speak such poor Swedish that elderly people cannot understand or make themselves understood. We know that the medical competence is lacking. It has been lacking for a long time, even during the years when the municipalities in Sweden delivered large deficits. Poor Swedish was spoken even then. Then there were deficiencies in the medical competence, and then we also had a Social Democratic government.
The problem with my Social Democratic colleagues and friends here in the chamber, in contrast to what I was accused of—wearing ideological blinkers—is that you are often blinded by those ideological blinkers. It becomes clear in the discussion and in this debate. I have zero tolerance for unserious actors, and I have zero tolerance for poor elderly care, regardless of who provides the care. This applies to both municipal and independent actors.
For me, it is therefore important to give Ivo the assignments that I accounted for initially, that is to secure, clarify and improve the work against the unserious actors because they do not belong in elderly care. But it was also an equally important assignment to Ivo that Acko Ankarberg Johansson and I gave when we said that Ivo should act in a supporting role and work better together with the municipalities in the crime prevention work.
But there is another part ahead that is at least equally important regarding the municipalities' responsibilities, namely that the possibility of entering into agreements with independent actors is utilized to secure freedom of choice for the citizens. But if things do not go correctly, the agreements must be terminated. In that case, it is at least equally important that the municipalities report the unprofessional actors to Ivo. They can be present in several municipalities, and in that case, it is a matter of stopping them as soon as possible. There must be a mutual cooperation between Ivo and the municipalities to ensure that every tax krona is used in the right way and reaches the elderly, to secure freedom of choice and to ensure that the quality is as good as possible.
Mikael Dahlqvist (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank Anna Tenje for her answer.
It is interesting to hear the responsible minister claim that the Social Democratic government has looked at [it] when the minister in all statements has spoken about reforms that the previous S-government initiated, investigated, and referred for consultation. Let me give some examples, namely to investigate language requirements in elderly care, to give a protected professional title for assistant nurse, to take the initiative for an elderly care act, and so on.
What I am, however, a bit sad about, Mr. Speaker, is that I have not received an answer from Anna Tenje regarding what the government intends to do concerning the unserious healthcare providers. This has nothing to do with freedom of choice - I am the first here in the chamber to sign off on this. I have been a municipal councilor, and in my opinion, it is about us being careful with our tax money. Every krona should go toward what we intend. But as soon as we raise this issue with the Minister or her colleagues in the chamber, we are accused of threatening freedom of choice. My entire interpellation is about having a proper regulatory framework so that we can avoid the scandals and welfare crime.
I note that the Minister takes the issue seriously, but I also note, unfortunately, that I have not heard any concrete proposals here and now on how she intends to proceed with the issue.
Sofie Eriksson (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer. I appreciate the, as I interpret it, sincere commitment to the issues. Many of us share that commitment.
I have several times during the interpellation debate pointed out that the problems exist with both private and municipal providers. For me, it is about that elderly care, regardless of the provider, must be good. There must be good care for the elderly, and it must be a good workplace for those who work there.
We raise problems that exist in, for example, Malin Höglund's own home municipality, where elderly people have, according to relatives, starved to death, they have lain in their own feces, and the staff say that the understaffing is so severe that they can only just manage to keep those who live there alive. But then Malin Höglund chooses to spend her minutes in the speaker's chair not on condemning what has happened after she sat in power and was responsible for elderly care, but on saying that we should not paint a black picture, not talk about the problems. This is a betrayal of all nursing assistants. It is a betrayal of the elderly who are affected by neglect.
It will become clear moving forward how priorities are set in politics. We are already seeing warnings all around in elderly care in Sweden. How will that contribute to the quality of elderly care? Better or worse? I know what I think. I know what I have seen when I myself have been a substitute in care and stood there myself, without training, with far too few colleagues. I know many people around me who recognize themselves in that the chronic understaffing is dangerous for those who work there and, above all, for those who are in need of elderly care.
(FIRST DEPUTY SPEAKER: I just want to point out that Malin Höglund has no more speaking time.)
Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)
Mr. Speaker! I thank you for the clarification. It was definitely correct to point out that Malin Höglund does not have the right to a speech in the third round to respond to the attack from the rostrum.
I am pleased that the interest in elderly care is so great in the chamber. It has rarely been so many who have jumped into a debate on an interpellation that I have had the privilege of answering, and it pleases me very much.
It is not always the case that the Riksdag usually discusses elderly care to the same extent as it might do in other subjects, and I truly welcome this. It was obvious that in this interpellation debate, with two interpellations containing several questions, even more questions emerged. I was warned that more would come, and I welcome that. Elderly care is important, and it is definitely a question of the future.
It may be that the decision-making competence does not lie at the state level, in the Riksdag's lap, but it is extremely important that we strengthen elderly care, that we support and help our municipalities. Above all, we shall help our municipal politicians to prioritize correctly.
In these economically tough times, it is extremely important that the taxpayers' money is used precisely for the core of the welfare, and the money shall be used to prioritize elderly care given that more and more people are becoming older. Thank goodness more and more elderly people are living a healthier life, but ultimately we will all be in need of support and help in some way. Then it is important that there is an elderly care to rely on.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.