On average, a patient spent 4 hours and 16 minutes in the emergency room last year. However, there are large regional differences - Region Skåne had the longest stays with an average of almost five hours, while patients in Region Jönköping spent the shortest time, with an average of just over three hours.
The National Board of Health and Welfare's statistics also show that women of all ages had to wait longer in the emergency room than men.
"We see the pattern recurring year after year. We don't know what causes it, but it is an issue that needs to be investigated more closely, for example in research," says Bruno Ziegler, medical expert at the National Board of Health and Welfare.
