Background information
Accessibility is one of the cornerstones of good healthcare. It is well known that lack of accessibility leads to increased patient safety risks; despite this, long waiting times for care have long been a problem in Sweden and other countries with tax-funded healthcare systems. The Swedish National Agency for Health and Welfare (IVO) was given a government assignment to submit proposals on how the agency can develop its supervision based on the risks that lack of accessibility in healthcare can entail for patient safety. The assignment included conducting an international comparison of regulation and supervision in other countries with the aim of drawing lessons for the Swedish context, which Sirona was commissioned to carry out.
Implementation
The assignment was limited to focus on regulation and supervision of specialized somatic care in the Nordic countries, Australia, the Netherlands and the UK. Based on the current challenges in Swedish health care, the analysis was focused on accessibility in the form of first visit and waiting time for surgery / procedure. The work was based on eight overarching questions for the study countries. The questions concerned the laws and regulations of different countries as well as the historical development of accessibility and the practical work of monitoring accessibility in each country. Through a combination of reviewing public reports, analyzing international waiting time data and qualitative interviews with representatives from regulatory authorities in each country, an in-depth picture of each country's conditions, working methods and results was created.
Outcome
The analyses showed that accessibility had deteriorated in some countries but improved in others. By comparing the significant development of waiting times with the actions of supervisory authorities in the countries studied, a picture emerged of how it is possible to improve accessibility through systematic supervisory work, including injunctions and the threat of fines. The international comparison is included in IVO's published report "Supervision of accessibility in health care".
