In 2024, the Swedish Inspectorate for Health and Social Care (Ivo) closed 190 Lex Sarah reports within home care. In twelve of the cases, the people died as a result of deficiencies in care, according to a review by SVT .
In five of the cases, the security alarms had been forgotten or handled incorrectly, and several people died alone. One person had called the alarm seven times, another only received help several hours after calling after suffering a stroke.
Among the other deaths, four people died after not receiving food and care for an extended period of time.
In total, SVT has found 43 cases where deficiencies in alarm handling have either led to, or risked leading to, serious consequences. In the case of a further twelve deaths, it is not possible to rule out a different outcome if the home care service had acted differently. In five of the cases, for example, staff left without taking action when the care recipient did not open the door.
According to Lars Rahm, unit manager at Ivo, the Lex Sarah reports only show the tip of the iceberg.
This must not happen and it says something about the staff's working conditions, he tells SVT.
