The Stockholm region has changed politically after the 2022 elections, and with a new centrist coalition supported by the Left Party, another wind is blowing. A clear example of this is the healthcare election, which is currently undergoing a downsizing. Last summer, the ruling parties announced that many of the 38 healthcare options would be completely abolished, including skin care. A decision on purchasing services within the soon-to-open specialist skin care sector is now expected. Jonas Lindberg, regional councillor and healthcare policy spokesperson for the Left Party, sees this as a clear step and describes the skin care option as the most criticised of all the healthcare options in the region.
“This choice of care made care very unequal. I think there was one reception in the southern part of the county, while the rest were in the inner city. There was also an incredible focus on making money from mild skin conditions, while at the same time we gained in-depth medical expertise from ST doctors working in the choice of care,” he says.
Jonas Lindberg refers, among other things, to the report of the Läkartidningen Specialty Association on the concern of the dermatology specialist association about the deterioration in the quality of education of ST doctors in choosing care. Johan Sterud, President of the Stockholm Medical Association, also expressed how ST doctors have become a “light version of doctors” with narrow competence in choosing care.
“Everyone who knows anything about this issue, such as the professional association and various medical groups, says that this choice of care has failed,” says Jonas Lindberg.
Therefore, the political council wants to end the sponsorship option and buy out a number of private players instead. The reason for choosing this route instead of letting the region take over all the skincare business is simply that regional sponsorship currently does not have the opportunity to scale up operations to the extent required, according to Jonas Lindberg. On the other hand, a smaller part of the sponsorship could be transferred under the region’s sponsorship.
– But now we need private sector actors. The advantage over select sponsorship is that we can now control how many actors we want and where they should be, says Jonas Lindberg.
Under the political proposal, they also want to rethink the specialist service model, so that doctors always start in hospitals, even if they work in private practice. Choice of care clinics will no longer be able to employ their own ST doctors. But the Stockholm Medical Association has previously expressed concerns that choice of care ST doctors will end up in limbo when choice of care closes.
How will you ensure that ST physicians working under the care option are trained when the agreement expires?
– It is an issue that is being worked on a lot in the education unit at the moment. We have not yet fully defined how it will be implemented, for example, whether they will receive additional training.
Many other care options are about to be eliminated. Care in eye care will be phased out and purchased, according to a political decision taken early this spring. The pain and fatigue of choosing care will be phased out at the end of the year, and the sensitivity of choosing care will disappear over the following year. The specialist lymphedema treatment planned by Vårdval has also been stopped and care will end up at Sabbatsberg Hospital instead. However, two care options that were due to be stopped will remain: neurology and geriatrics. In the latter case, care choice is limited to non-profit actors.
– Then further investigations and care options are made, where we consider whether others should also be deleted, combined or reviewed, says Jonas Lindberg.
Charlotte Broberg (M), Group Leader at the Health and Medical Care Council, spoke previously. Daily Swedish Patients are at risk of suffering when care options are closed. Even in the policy proposal submitted to the Health and Medical Council, it was stated that access could be negatively affected during the transition period.
– Of course, this risk exists, although we have done everything we can to secure the recipient companies before the current contract model expires. But there are greater risks in keeping the agreements as they are, says Jonas Lindberg.
The official decision to buy the open specialty skincare was made on August 27. Jonas Lindberg believes that the care selection will be discontinued in 2026 at the earliest.
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