The assignment is about coordinating care for people with so-called comorbidity.
As it stands now, mental illness falls under psychiatry and addiction problems under the municipalities' social services.
Discussed for a long time
People risk being sent from one to the other, and then back again, while their condition deteriorates, says Minister for Social Affairs Jakob Forssmed at a press conference and continues:
It's a daily reality for many people in Sweden, because one thing naturally affects the other.
The issue has been up for discussion for a longer period of time. As early as 2019, the Riksdag announced to the then government that care should be coordinated.
In 2020, a comorbidity inquiry was therefore set up, which presented its proposals in 2023. However, several referral bodies were critical, including proposals on compulsory care.
Therefore, the inquiry's proposals in their current form cannot be implemented, according to Forssmed.
Some proposals need to be adjusted, supplemented, and further analyzed, he says.
It will be the task of the comorbidity delegation over a three-year period.
Takes longer time
Jakob Forssmed says he regrets that it will now take even more time before new legislation can be put in place.
But at the same time, I can conclude that it is so urgent that this is done right, so that we don't create new boundary problems and new worries that many referral bodies have pointed out.
The goal is for proposals to be able to be introduced during the time the delegation is working.
