Sollefteå bankruptcy shows underfunding of primary care



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A bankruptcy official took over Voon's activities in Sollefteå, which went bankrupt on Thursday. Internal meetings have taken place, the health center has a limited opening for some time, but will be settled in the coming weeks.

Voon CEO Kerstin Brandelius talks about the pain and shock of the staff and members of the economic association to which the health center belongs. What will happen to that is not yet clear.

"We certainly could have done a lot of different things, we have to look back, I can not answer it at the moment, but I hope that what happened to us makes politicians wake up," she says.

Read more: The cooperative health care center of Sollefteå went bankrupt

The Social Democratic Regional Council of Western Norway, Erik Lövgren, told the DN that Voon's economic problems had been clear for a long time.

– The compensation is given in different amounts for different types of patients, and you get a supplement for those who use a lot of care. Already this spring, we had been informed in the area that there was a deficit in Voon and the daycare unit asked them for a plan of action as early as the month of April .

The health center has not behaved well, "he said, which is as clear as:

"It would be interesting for a private operator to want to take over, but until now, there has not been such an interest in the hinterland.

The four health centers in the western part of Västernorrland are all county councils and have suffered major recruitment problems and a loss of millions of people. The health center in Sollefteå reached 12 million in 2017.

Kerstin Brandelius thinks it's symptomatic:

"It's no wonder no private actor wants to work here – it's not profitable – but something still needs to be done to ensure equal care across the country." I do not think the tax increases here are sufficient, it has not been done so far.

The Voon Care Center opened in December 2017 and had 8,000 registered patients and a dozen permanent doctors at the time of the bankruptcy. A savings program added this summer has not had enough effect.

Care at Sollefteå received a great deal of attention when closing parts of the hospital, including BB.

The Social Democrats, who had announced in the 2014 elections that they were to maintain three emergency hospitals in the region, were put under tremendous pressure in the 2018 regional elections and lost 12.5 percentage points. Moderates gained 1.7%, while the left-wing party and the Swedish Democrats progressed. However, a large part of the Social Democratic voters went to the local health party, from zero to 8.7%.

However, the way in which the region of Western Norway must be governed during the new term is as uncertain as the appearance of the next government. Negotiations on different coalitions have taken place since the election, but no constellation has yet been concluded.

Read more: A long way to restore confidence in Sollefteå

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