Response to interpellations 2025/26:118 and 119 on long-term resources for elderly care

Äldre- och socialförsäkringsministern Anna Tenje (M)

Madam Speaker! Mikael Dahlqvist has asked me questions regarding measures against irregularities in home care. He has asked how I view the connection between the municipalities' resources and the quality of home care, how the government intends to ensure that the municipalities receive resources to provide a safe and dignified home care, what support measures the state can offer so that the municipalities can recruit and retain staff, and whether there is a need for national guidelines and stricter supervision to avoid irregularities.

Eva Lindh has asked the Minister for Finance if she intends to ensure increased and indexed general government grants to meet the needs in elderly care, if she intends to review choice models and compensation models, and what measures can be considered to provide municipalities and regions with stable frameworks to implement improvement measures in elderly care. The work within the government is distributed such that it is I who shall answer the interpellation.

Madam Speaker! The starting point for all care shall be safety and humanity. Deficiencies in execution cannot be accepted within either municipal or private operations. We simply have zero tolerance for poor quality. From the provisions of the Social Services Act (2025:400) it follows that interventions within social services shall be of good quality and that there shall be staff with appropriate education and experience for the execution of the tasks. The quality of the operations shall also be systematically and continuously developed and secured.

There shall also be routines to prevent, detect, and address risks and irregularities within the social services' activities. Each municipality is responsible, in its capacity as the principal, for elderly care and for ensuring that the requirements are met. It is very important that there is knowledge within elderly care regarding the so-called lex Sarah provision in the Social Services Act and that the provision is followed. The National Board of Health and Welfare shall continuously update and develop the support regarding lex Sarah. The Health and Social Care Inspectorate, Ivo, is further responsible for supervision of all activities, regardless of whether it is the municipality or private operators that conduct them.

In procurement, it is important that suppliers provide high-quality operations. Konkurrensverket has been commissioned by the government to submit a proposal for an effective, proportionate, and reliable method to assess the extent to which suppliers fulfill the quality requirements in public contracts. The idea is to review how the suppliers' ability to compete on quality instead of lowest price can be increased. The assignment is to be reported on November 30, 2025.

Elderly care is a priority issue for the government, which has taken several different measures to strengthen the quality of care. To secure the municipalities' conditions to carry out their welfare mandate, the government increased the general state grants by 6 billion kronor in the budget bill for 2023 (prop. 2022/23:1) and an additional 10 billion kronor in the budget bill for 2024 (prop. 2023/24:1). The level increases are permanent, that is, they still remain in place. It is therefore 16 billion.

The municipalities also receive continued targeted state grants for elderly care, such as the sector grant, which the municipalities can utilize based on their own circumstances and needs within elderly care specifically. The sector grant amounts to just over 4 billion kronor for 2026. In the budget bill for 2026 (prop. 2025/26:1), the Government has also strengthened and expanded the Elderly Care Boost (Äldreomsorgslyftet). The competence initiative is extended to 2027 and covers 1.8 billion kronor per year for 2026 and 2027. Since 2023, the profession of assistant nurse (undersköterska) has also had a protected professional title, which contributes to ensuring competence within care and increasing the profession's attractiveness and status. It also helps to increase the differentiation of the work tasks.

The elderly must be able to understand and make themselves understood. Good knowledge of the Swedish language and the ability to communicate both orally and in writing is a basic prerequisite for the staff to be able to perform the work within elderly care in a safe manner and for a well-functioning elderly care of good quality. The Government therefore decided on November 13 this year on the Council of Legislation referral *A language requirement within elderly care*. In the Council of Legislation referral, a language requirement is proposed for staff in elderly care. This means that the social welfare committee and the operation shall work to ensure that the staff have relevant language skills to perform their interventions. The provision is proposed to enter into force on July 1, 2026.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Mikael Dahlqvist (S)

Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister very much for the answer.

The reason for my interpellation is that I am deeply concerned about the developments within Swedish elderly care. It is not only about the latest serious findings made during the review, which in and of themselves should be sufficient reason for us to act immediately. Even the experiences of the pandemic showed clear deficiencies in the welfare system, particularly within elderly care. During the pandemic, all parties agreed that elderly care should be prioritized. But today, Madam Speaker, I must ask: Where did the government's commitment go?

Swedish elderly care is in a serious situation. The number of elderly is increasing, as are the needs. But the state grants do not keep pace. The municipalities face significant economic challenges, and there are simply no resources to meet reality.

We already see the consequences of this today. Staffing is being reduced. Personnel are forced to perform the work tasks in ever shorter time. That which adds a golden edge to life, such as having a conversation, going out for a walk, or the like, there is not enough time for. Professional competence and status are declining. Language confusion and lack of education have become commonplace. This naturally increases the risk of irregularities. The situation can be summarized in three words, Madam Speaker: underfunding, time pressure, and staff shortages.

The Minister speaks about the municipalities' responsibilities. My question to her then becomes: How are the municipalities to manage their responsibility when the state grants are not sufficient to meet the upcoming needs?

I must emphasize that elderly care still works in many places. But it is thanks to fantastic employees who do much more than the conditions allow. They simply deserve more colleagues, better conditions, and a policy that strengthens elderly care, not weakens it.

Madam Speaker! In his answer, the Minister gives the impression that the situation is under control. However, I receive no concrete answers to the questions I posed in my interpellation. In my view, the government lacks a plan. During the current parliamentary term, the government has so far presented one proposition. It concerns welfare technology. The government has also announced two additional propositions that are to be presented this autumn.

To say that elderly care is a priority is one thing, to show it in action is another. The warning signs are everywhere. The latest SVT investigation of Lex Sarah cases is a terrifying read. It reveals serious deficiencies in care, deficiencies that have even led to people passing away.

The government is responsible for ensuring that legislation, resources, and protection are in place. But instead, you chose to vote down our proposal for a new elderly care act, a law that would strengthen quality, clarify responsibility, and create security.

Against that background, Madam Minister, I still wonder: Where are the concrete measures? Will more resources be provided to the municipalities?

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Eva Lindh (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you for the answer, Minister for Seniors Anna Tenje!

The Swedish welfare system is under severe pressure. Municipality by municipality, elected officials, managers, staff, and relatives testify to a reality that does not correspond with the image one sometimes gets of elderly care. It is about increased needs without a corresponding reinforcement of resources. The consequences become particularly clear in elderly care.

The pandemic exposed flaws that we already knew about. It is about uneven quality, lack of continuity, and tough working conditions. By 2030, the number of people over 80 years old is estimated to have increased by 50 percent compared to today. It is not a surprise. We have known that for a long time. Still, long-term funding is lacking to meet the development.

I meet so many people who speak with warmth about their work with the elderly. I understand that. It is an important, fun, and engaging job. But they also speak with sorrow about the conditions for their work. The conclusion is clear: They love their job, but they so often feel that they are not enough.

According to Kommunal's latest member survey, 43 percent of staff in elderly care say that the staffing is rarely or never sufficient and that the staffing in elderly care is so low that it poses a risk to the elderly at least once a week.

Madam Speaker! Swedish elderly care is under pressure. The municipalities therefore need long-term funding support and powerful measures for skills supply to ensure quality and security over time.

The Fiscal Policy Council notes that the government allows for a reduction in ambition in welfare, including elderly care. Ivo's national supervision shows serious deficiencies in patient safety, staffing, and the possibility of performing interventions with good quality. PRO's mappings show that municipalities are already being forced to scale back.

During our S-led governments, we have made several interventions to strengthen elderly care with sector grants and elderly care lifts, which I am very pleased that the government is also continuing with. But it lacks a long-term perspective. We have also made interventions to strengthen nursing assistants who work in elderly care.

Many elderly people will need more interventions in the future, more care and more support. It is elderly people who are waiting for a place in elderly care and who are waiting to receive a home care service where they recognize everyone who comes, because there is such poor continuity. The government has no answer for them.

For me and for us, it is important. All the elderly who have struggled throughout their entire lives to build up the society we have now are worthy of good elderly care of high quality. Therefore, I continue to ask questions to the minister.

Will long-term, permanent measures and resources for elderly care be provided to ensure good quality for all elderly?

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Zara Leghissa (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you to the interpellants Mikael Dahlqvist and Eva Lindh for raising this very important issue.

I want to highlight what today is one of the welfare state's most serious structural crises, the inadequate funding of Swedish elderly care.

We are talking about a system that is expected year after year to deliver more to more people with ever fewer resources. It is not sustainable. It is not worthy of the elderly, and it is not worthy of the employees who every day carry elderly care on their shoulders.

Madam Speaker! The applause has died down. The dance to Jerusalem has stopped, and elderly care is becoming increasingly broken. I meet nursing assistants, healthcare assistants, and nurses who love their work but who all say the same thing: We don't have enough time. We are not enough, and we will soon not be able to manage anymore.

I want to quote the nursing assistant Victor Markström, who works in elderly care in Älvsbyn. He is also a trade union representative. He says: There is a crisis in Swedish elderly care. Sickness absence is sky-high, the shortage of substitutes is enormous, and it is not uncommon for two staff members to take care of up to 15 residents with great care needs. We need change, and now! We need more staff on the floor, better working conditions, sustainable schedules, and higher wages.

Madam Speaker! This is no exaggeration. It is the reality. It is also a direct result of the government, step by step, dismantling the economic foundation that elderly care requires.

We Social Democrats are clear:

We want more employees within home care and elderly care homes.

We want better conditions for the employees.

We want to give staff the opportunity to educate themselves during working hours.

All elderly people have the right to a secure elderly care regardless of where they live. But today we see how the differences and inequalities are increasing. Municipalities are forced into savings and cuts to meet their budgets. It is not efficient. One cannot call it efficiencies. These are consequences of insufficient state grants and a state policy that lets the municipalities alone bear the burden.

Madam Speaker! The government often speaks of freedom of choice. But how much freedom of choice remains when the resources to perform the basic mission no longer exist? How much dignity is there in not receiving help with one's personal hygiene, in not having time for food, in not being able to do what brings joy, such as being able to meet one's friends, bathe in a sauna, or be able to get out into nature or go into town? It is about not being able to have one's existential needs met and, in the worst case, dying alone and leaving relatives in their sorrow and with their questions.

Madam Speaker! We Social Democrats want something else. We want elderly care where the staff's competence is given space, where permanent full-time positions are the norm, and where staffing is governed by the needs of the elderly and not by the systems. We want a strengthened state responsibility and long-term funding, because elderly care needs investments in security, in equality, and in human dignity.

Therefore, I want to ask Minister for Pensions and Social Insurance Anna Tenje: How much longer shall elderly people be forced to live with a care and support that does not receive enough resources to be dignified?

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Johanna Haraldsson (S)

Madam Speaker! Increased needs and diminished resources. That summarizes the situation in home care. The need for care is increasing rapidly as more people get older, but the resources are not keeping up. It is an equation that does not add up.

It is not possible to streamline care. It is not possible to ramp up the pace in the encounter with a human being who needs security, support, and dignity. When one tries to do just that anyway, someone has to take the hit. In elderly care, it is both the staff and the elderly who pay the price.

The Swedish Work Environment Authority, the National Board of Health and Welfare, and Ivo expressed unanimously in a report on SVT recently that the situation in home care is unsustainable.

Ivo notes that there are deficiencies in the working environment across the entire country and that this is often a reason why care recipients suffer because the staff are simply not given reasonable conditions to keep up with all users in a safe manner. Ivo describes the conditions as unreasonable and argues that time is lacking and that schedules are too pressured. When staffing is insufficient, risks arise that can lead to serious conditions.

The National Board of Health and Welfare states that a safe and high-quality home care service requires time, continuity, and flexibility, but that home care is instead characterized by minute management, high staff turnover, and limited opportunity to individualize the care.

The Swedish Work Environment Authority describes the working conditions as very concerning and unsustainable, and when one looks at the statistics, it is difficult to say anything else. Home care staff report occupational diseases more than twice as often as other occupational groups. They report work accidents with sick leave more than twice as often. They are exposed to threats and violence twice as often as other occupational groups. 51 percent lack the opportunity for recovery during the workday, while in other occupations it is only 26 percent who do. 55 percent do not believe they will be able to work until retirement. Over half have gone to work while sick because they cannot afford to stay home. Home care stands out negatively in all comparisons. The work situation is far much worse than for other groups on the labor market.

Försäkringskassan also confirms this picture. Home care services are constantly above the average in sick leaves. It is particularly the stress-related diagnoses and the high workload that are the greatest cause. If the sickness absence in elderly care were at the same level as in other industries, it would correspond to 6,000 more years of work in home care.

Arbetsmiljöverket's own analyses show what is driving the situation: minute-based schedules, unhealthy workloads and solitary work, which increase the risk of threats and violence.

It is obvious that there are major deficiencies in the home care services that affect both the staff and the elderly. It is not worthy of a welfare society to constantly try to streamline care. My question is, of course: What does the government intend to do about the situation?

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Äldre- och socialförsäkringsministern Anna Tenje (M)

Madam Speaker! One of the interpellants asked the question: Where did the commitment go? I also ask myself that sometimes, because I can only state that it is very rarely, Madam Speaker, that I am given the opportunity to spend time in this speaker's chair to discuss these important issues.

No shadow shall fall over any of the members who are here tonight to discuss these important issues. Let me simply state that my day is not empty when it comes to working on these issues. On the other hand, I sometimes lack both response and proposals, not least from the Social Democrats, who are now quite stiff in the neck and demand measures. It is very rarely that these types of discussions come up in the committee or, for that matter, in this chamber. But tonight I truly welcome this, because it is important that we talk about this.

At the same time, I become a bit dismayed when one measures the government's commitment by the number of bills on the theme and at the same time seems to overlook that one of the largest bills that has been placed on this chamber's table is the new Social Services Act, which thus covers the entire elderly care and the legislation for the same. This is actually the largest work that has been done in 30 years regarding elderly care. The interpellor fails to mention this themselves and instead only highlights the bill on welfare technology, which is admittedly quite important but cannot at all compare with the Social Services Act.

I also request the commitment when my colleague Elisabet Lann presented the goal of good and close care. We now have medically responsible rehabilitation as a requirement in the municipalities and have strengthened the medical competence with 24/7 medical assessment by a nurse in special housing. It was an issue that was highlighted, not least in the Corona Commission's report, and which we are now addressing.

I have already addressed the language requirement and the referral to the Council on Legislation that we have presented. It was one of the major issues in the Corona Commission's report and it was specifically pointed out as one of the issues that is the basis for the major deficiencies we see within Swedish elderly care. The previous government did not manage to do anything about this, but we did.

I have presented a dementia strategy to completely turn the tide regarding how we view the important dementia issues. Dementia is one of the fastest-growing folk diseases we have. Dementia is therefore a disease, and not a part of natural aging, which concerns the final years with great needs for support from home care or special housing. We are completely changing the view on this and now envision a completely new roadmap to secure equal care throughout the country.

We have several times this evening touched upon the working environment. It is the same thing there: The Government has presented an action program with many measures to secure the return to work and reduce sick leaves. But we have also pointed out how important the working environment is and how important it is that the municipality, region and also the state take action on these important issues because the working environment is so poor.

The Socialstyrelsen report shows that it is just as bad now as it was 20 years ago if one looks at both home care and elderly care in general. The managers usually had 48 employees under them, and it looks the same now as it did then. Precisely for that reason, I have invited the parties in the labor market to highlight the important issues and ensure that action is taken regarding the sickness absence rates. Not least, I have also invited the management of SKR and responsible municipalities, the largest municipalities and the largest regions, to show how important it is that we now truly take on the leadership role from the political side to reduce the sickness absence rates.

It is exactly as the member says: Had we reduced the sickness absence rates within elderly care and had more people be able to manage more and move from part-time to full-time, we would not have had the major problems with competence supply that we see now. But it is wrong to say that the government is doing nothing or is not prioritizing the issue.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Mikael Dahlqvist (S)

Madam Speaker! The fundamental problem in today's Swedish elderly care is underfunding. One can, as a government, give assignments to the National Board of Health and Welfare, the Medical Products Agency, and so on. That is good; one can adjust certain things. But what the Minister for Elderly Care apparently does not want to accept is that it is about underfunding.

Several of my colleagues, including myself, testify to how the staff today are being pushed to their limits. The municipalities are forced to implement austerity measures to make the finances balance, and the staff numbers are becoming smaller at more residential homes and are receiving increasingly worse schedules. There are countless reports, both from authorities and from trade union organizations, that testify to this.

It is the answer to that question, Madam Speaker, that I am seeking from the government. Where did the commitment go to solve the base and the foundation for making elderly care work in Sweden?

Since it is good that the government has launched fully with S-propositions, as the minister refers to in his answer. But the government has not been particularly productive in this area; I stand by that.

We see that the needs are increasing, not only because we are becoming more elderly but also because the complexity is increasing. I must ask the minister if she is satisfied with the money that is given today to Swedish elderly care. We see that the quality is uneven within the country. The staffing density is low, the work environment is tough, the working conditions are poor, and the staff turnover is high. Many are leaving today the profession that they actually love. They cannot endure staying, Madam Speaker. This is not sufficient.

The Minister called for our commitment. She can receive three concrete proposals that we will present in our budget bill for next year. I welcome you to stand behind this.

Firstly, we are making a billion-kronor investment for more employees within elderly care. This should be seen as a first step towards slowly but surely resolving the ongoing underfunding.

Secondly, we have, as before, proposals to index-secure the welfare. The inflation economy that took its toll on healthcare could have been reduced if we had already had a reform with an index launched.

Thirdly, we naturally welcome that the government finally chose to continue with Äldreomsorgslyftet, but we want to see a permanent status and strengthening of it, i.e., a broader mandate.

The most important thing, however, is: How do we ensure that Sweden's 290 municipalities get the economic muscles they need to be able to provide care and security with reasonable execution? My question to the Minister for Elderly Care therefore remains, Madam Speaker: Will more money come to the municipal sector for elderly care?

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Eva Lindh (S)

Madam Speaker! Some time ago, I spent a day following a woman who worked in home care – we can call her Elsa. She was absolutely fantastic. I said to her after that day: I wish that you are still here when I get older and that it is you who will help me when I need support.

She then began by enthusiastically telling what she loved about working in home care – it was the best job she could imagine – but that she would not continue working there when I got old because the conditions were so bad. I will not be able to continue working, she said. It is too tough. It is too hard. I cannot do the job that I wish I could do. I don't have the time. It is not possible to reconcile with being a parent of small children.

It is tough to work in elderly care, even though many love it.

Our elderly should be met with time, security, and trust, not queues, staff shortages, and insecure employment. We can invest now or pay the price in worn-out bodies and lost dignity.

The Minister refers to the fact that the municipalities have already received support and that this is the municipalities' responsibility. I have met very many municipal politicians who, with tears in their eyes, say that they can no longer manage to provide elderly care with the resources required. They have to cut back even more, because that is the only thing they can cut back on.

So, this is also about resources. It is about money to be able to finance elderly care where there are major deficiencies. It is about the long-term financing that I have just asked questions about. It is about indexing the state grants so that the municipalities know what they have to deal with. Even in inflation, one must be assured of receiving the resources that are required.

When the government constantly refers to the municipalities, which are struggling hard, I do not think it is taking the responsibility that a government can take – to provide sufficient resources to ensure a good welfare and a good elderly care that provides security for people when we get older.

The Minister requests commitment. It is here. We are committed to elderly care, not only with heart but also with brains. In our budget, we have indeed prioritized elderly care – not only with the indexed state grants which are general and which the municipalities can choose to invest in as they wish, but we have also developed a sector grant specifically targeted at elderly care. It is important, and it could make a real difference.

The Government highlights supervision, procurement, and quality requirements, and that is good and well. It was needed, because now it is not working either. Our models for freedom of choice are deficient and cause the operations within elderly care to be exploited and not strengthened with resources. But we must also speak plainly: It is not possible to supervise a functioning elderly care if the resources are not sufficient to employ what is most important in elderly care, namely staff.

(Applause)

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Zara Leghissa (S)

Madam Speaker! I know that the Minister has a commitment to elderly care and is doing good things – however, not enough.

It is not local priorities that create the deficits in elderly care, but the national underfunding. Pointing only at the municipalities can be convenient, but it does not solve the staffing crisis, the recruitment problems, or the working environment situation, which staff and trade unions describe as unsustainable. It is not more micro-management that the municipalities need, but resources. It is long-term and general state grants, not temporary one-off measures, from which it is not possible to plan operations.

The government talks about freedom of choice. We Social Democrats talk about dignity, about justice and about respect. When one is forced to rush through healthcare and care work, it is indeed dignity that is lost and patient safety that is risked.

I urge the minister to listen to the elderly. Everyone has the right to a meaningful life and a good quality of life throughout life, where the individual's needs are at the center. I urge her to listen to the staff and actually give them room to act. They want nothing more than to be able to practice their profession fully. They are proactive and professional and create security.

Madam Speaker! Sweden can afford world-class elderly care if the will exists. But it requires political priorities where the human being comes before profit, welfare crime, and tax cuts. We Social Democrats stand ready to take that responsibility. I hope that the government also does so.

(Applause)

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Johanna Haraldsson (S)

Madam Speaker! When I meet nursing assistants and others who work in home care and elderly care in general, the description is the same: It is the world's best job, but the conditions make it so that I cannot manage. We need more colleagues and better schedules. Trust that we know our job, and give us the conditions to manage it!

The working environment in home care cannot be improved without increased resources. In order to reduce sickness absence among employees within home care and make the work more attractive, the working environment must become better.

At the same time as the needs in elderly care are increasing, costs are rising and the staff are struggling even harder, the government chooses not to compensate the municipalities for cost increases. This has resulted in cuts in many municipalities. The trade union Kommunal argues that elderly care is underfunded, underprioritized, and understaffed, and it is easy to agree.

The Minister presents no solution to the obvious problems – the minute-by-minute management, the unhealthy workload, the high sickness absence, and the lack of colleagues. Long-term funding was needed to be able to achieve what the staff is requesting: reasonable schedules and more colleagues.

When will the government take responsibility for the home care staff, for their working environment, and for conditions sufficient for them to be able to stay in the profession and have the strength to go all the way to retirement?

(Applause)

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Äldre- och socialförsäkringsministern Anna Tenje (M)

Madam Speaker! I want to dwell on the deficiencies we have seen and those that have prompted the discussion we have seen in the media lately and which appeared in the one interpellation. It concerns the discussion about lex Sarah. I want to take this opportunity to point out that the deficiencies that have led to the lex Sarah reports are appalling. Deficiencies in quality of that nature can never be accepted within elderly care. It is important that the elderly should feel safe and secure with the care and support they need and are entitled to.

At the same time, it is extremely important that the operations continue to make Lex Sarah reports and that this is not blamed or stigmatized. All municipalities are responsible for elderly care in Sweden, and one should strive to carry out continuous improvement work. Here, the Lex Sarah reports are an important part of the work.

By making a Lex Sarah report, the operations need to get to the bottom of what has gone wrong, which routines have been lacking, and what needs to be changed to prevent this from happening again. It is therefore important to take the opportunity to report. There are not many Lex Sarah reports. I wish they had not been needed, but when things happen, it is better to make a Lex Sarah report than to not do it at all. Then it becomes really bad.

Elderly care and home care are a municipal task, but I have never said that this is only the municipalities' responsibility. Rather, it is the opposite. I believe I have been clear from day one when I took office as Minister for Elderly Care that the government and the state have a great responsibility. This was shown, not least by the reports from the Corona Commission and Ivo. I have truly taken the issue very seriously. In the Corona Commission's report, there are eleven points under my area, and we have now addressed nine of the eleven points.

I also want to specifically highlight our decision regarding a comprehensive referral to the Council on Legislation which we submitted a few weeks ago. It concerns providing the municipalities with a clear legal basis to carry out background checks in the burden and suspicion registers of the staff who are to work within elderly care. There is also an ongoing investigation to ensure that the background checks can become mandatory. It should not be an optional task for the municipalities; the checks shall be carried out.

The municipalities must take their responsibility, and one must ensure that those who work in elderly care are suitable. I understand that this is yet another burden, and when it comes to the competence shortage, this might become even more difficult.

But I believe that when the requirements are raised, the attractiveness and the status of the profession are also raised. It will, along with the language requirement, which I mentioned in my opening speech, mean that the status and the attractiveness of working in elderly care will increase in the long run. Then it will also become easier to recruit.

Background checks and extracts from suspicion and offense registers are important. It is therefore not a human right to be allowed to work in elderly care, but it is a matter of the elderly's right to safe and secure care. One must be sure that the person one lets inside one's door, into one's home, is someone to trust. I will always stand on the side of the elderly and ensure that they can be safe and secure.

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Mikael Dahlqvist (S)

Madam Speaker! I do not doubt the Minister for Health and Social Affairs' commitment to the elderly and to her area of responsibility. I also share the Minister's view on the Sarah Act, namely that it is clear that it is important that reports are made and followed up.

However, the minister and I have completely different views on the financing of future elderly care. I mean that it is the basis for addressing a large part of the problems we see today.

Several individual measures that the Minister has accounted for naturally contribute to a small piece of the pie. The State has taken certain measures, for example, a protected professional title for nursing assistants. But the truth is that right now, today in Sweden, the municipalities are so desperate to get hold of staff that they take the staff they get. It is not the applicants' fault. The municipalities take staff who lack adequate education, and they take staff who cannot speak the language, which leads to language barriers. Naturally, it is the employer's duty to ensure that everything functions, but the situation today is such that one cannot get hold of people.

This problem has existed for all years, but previously it could be about the Christmas holidays, the New Year's holidays and perhaps the vacation month of June. Now it is a problem on a weekday in the middle of the week during the autumn. It is a clear sign that the attractiveness of elderly care is declining.

We Social Democrats are prepared to take our responsibility and ensure that elderly care receives the resources it needs.

(Applause)

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Eva Lindh (S)

Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the Elderly for making it clear that the state also has a responsibility for elderly care. That is what we agree on. We have a great responsibility to provide the municipalities with the conditions to provide good elderly care.

I also say yes to language requirements – it is important – with associated training. It should be possible for those who work in elderly care, who do an important job, to get access to the language required to work in elderly care. They must understand.

I say an absolute yes to reporting. It is clear that errors should be reported. I also say yes to supervision.

Our policy is not about saying no, but our policy is about also providing sufficient resources so that we can build an elderly care that we can be proud of, so that people can go to the jobs they love with joy. They should also be able to go home and feel that they have made a contribution today, that they did not have to run themselves into the ground today, that they had enough colleagues today to be able to make a good contribution.

We also say yes to real freedom of choice, to being able to influence the services one receives. It should not be freedom of choice models that further steal resources from elderly care, but real freedom of choice.

We Social Democrats stand up for good elderly care, stronger elderly care, for the sake of the staff, but above all because our elderly deserve good care in the autumn of life.

(Applause)

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Äldre- och socialförsäkringsministern Anna Tenje (M)

Madam Speaker! One wishes that there were enough time for so much more, partly to continue this important discussion, and partly to continue to highlight and tell about all the good things that the government is doing to strengthen quality in the short term and long term, as well as in a sustainable way, within Swedish elderly care.

I still want to highlight three things.

Step by step, reform by reform, we are now raising the requirements for working in elderly care. It is about competence requirements. We have addressed the issue of a protected professional title and extending and strengthening the Elderly Care Boost (Äldreomsorgslyftet) so that the bar for competence requirements can be raised significantly. This has been extended and strengthened. I will also gradually deliver new criteria so that the boost will reach more people.

Furthermore, we have the question of extracts from the criminal record. It is not a free choice for the municipalities. The elderly must be able to feel safe with those they let inside the door. Now it will be extracts from both the criminal record and the suspicion register. First, there shall be a clear legal basis, and then it will hopefully become a requirement.

The last thing, which is important and which has emerged in Ivo's review and in the Corona Commission's report, is one of the major deficiencies in Swedish elderly care, namely the language requirement. Now we are placing further requirements that one must be able to speak Swedish. The elderly must be able to understand and make themselves understood. It is only then that one can truly participate and influence what care and elderly care should be provided and one's life situation.

It is also about patient safety and truly ensuring that the elderly do not fall through the cracks or receive the wrong medicine or care.

It is also about the work environment. Employees must be able to talk to one another, even at the coffee table to discuss how the vacation was, what the son did over the weekend, or whatever it may be. It is only then that one can truly build a good work environment that makes people feel comfortable at work and stay.

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)