(edit title) Socialized medicine fails again Options

[Mike]

http://www.thelocal.se/8061/20070801/

An extra 700 million kronor ($104 million) of public money spend on psychiatric care over a two year period had no effect on patients, according to a new report.

The conclusions have been reached by the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen), which followed up on how the extra money was spent.

"The extra resources have not resolved overarching systemic problems either," the report's authors write in Wednesday's Dagens Nyheter.

The authors also say that some staff lack the necessary knowledge for the job and that resources are lacking or are not used effectively.

"But above all else it is the system that is failing," write Anders Printz, Claes-Göran Stefansson and Nina Frohm.

The trio argue that state direction of Swedish psychiatry and social services should have a longer-term perspective and be more systematic.

"Our follow-up shows that short-term state project grants can provide a temporary boost, but can never solve the overarching structural and competence problems that still exist within psychiatry," they write.

Well the government did all it could by throwing money at the problem. Now the system can resume the course of failure.

[High Priestess Kang - Slu...]

With all due respect, this article does not tell the reader anything other than there was money spent without significant improvements. Where are the defects in the process? What improvements are they suggesting?

I feel like I just read a story about some asshat who went on vacation to Vegas and lost his shirt. Ok...so he lost his shirt. How? Gambling? Theft? Being conned? Crime?

Seriously.

[*Guest*]

Mike, have you told your shrink yet? Noone else is interested in your problems.

[Mike]

The answer is easy. The government saw a problem and threw money it with no plan. It's SOP for the government. They don't have to worry about small details like planning or success because it's not their money, and they can always steal more.

[High Priestess Kang - Slu...]

No. The answer is not easy and shame on you for actually accepting what was poorly reported without questioning anything else.

Anyone who immediately accepts that the government is flawed without demanding further detail and/or improvement gets exactly what he deserves. Zilch.

As I see it, your attitude is just as much of a flaw in the process and mentality as the Government you criticize. If you're not demanding accountability and detail, why should they provide it?

Or is it simply far easier to say, "the government is evil" and froth on a forum?

The article does not demonstrate how the process and procedure failed. The only thing the reader sees is a headline with two or three poorly written and researched paragraphs to support a point of view.

Basically...it's an Op/Ed piece akin to anything one would see on Fox Facts crawling on the bottom of the tv screen.

[Mahmood]

Wow! thats powerful stuff.

[High Priestess Kang - Slu...]

And I haven't even finished the first cup of coffee.

[Mahmood]

BTW, Local might have done the mistake of reporting only the conclusions of the report. They might have discussed the reasoning of failure also. You should be more considerate until you read the full report.

[*Guest*]

Basically...it's an Op/Ed piece akin to anything one would see on Fox Facts crawling on the bottom of the tv screen.

No, it's a news agency piece (by TT) summarizing an op-ed written in Dagens Nyheter. It's a perfectly fair report of what was written in DN by a group of civil servants.

It's not a detailed report, but it's perfectly legitimate for a short news article to stick to the salient points, as long as it is put in context and the sources are named.

What this piece of news shows that throwing money at a problem is not in itself a solution. What it does not show is that socialized medicine can never be an effective way of providing healthcare.

[Roy E]

It's generally accepted that monopolies are inherently bad, but for some some very confused people who are easily seduced by the false promise of 'free', all that one needs to is put the word 'government' ahead of 'monopoly' and somehow - quite inexplicably - all is good and wonderful.

Fools.

Everything has a price. Freedom of choice and forfeiture of alternatives is about the highest price one can pay. Once you give give control to the bureaucrats, good luck getting it back. It's a one-way dead-end street.

[Mike]

No. The answer is not easy and shame on you for actually accepting what was poorly reported without questioning anything else.

blah blah blah... the bottom line is 700 million kronor was thrown away to no avail. Only the government can afford such mistakes. A private business would eventually go bankrupt. But the government makes the same mistakes over and over without recourse.

This isn't the first time this has happened either. In 2000 the government realized waiting times were too long at hospitals. So what did they do? They threw 5 billion kronor at the problem, and it still didn't go away. Hurray for government efficiency!

[Alfredo]

Sometimes we have to make mistakes in order to progress - life is essentially all about trial and error?

At least 'the government' can afford to make mistakes?

Personally, I'd rather not see the same mistakes being made too often ...

[Puffin]

I don't think the person who wrote the article for the local had actually bothered reading the report as the Local's report is not the same as the press release in Swedish on Socialstyrelsens webpage. Basically the message was that there had been imporvements but there were still many things that need to be improved - the final report talks about not being able to chenge all the problems of mental health with a "quick fix" of temporary projects.

The things that were most criticised were:
- need for imporvoved community living arrangements - especially for drug addicts and alcoholics
- need for better access to work related training
- the report criticises the fact that "only" 75% of the projects created a formal participation arrangement for organisations representing users.
- need for improved local outpatient care especially for child and geriatric psychiatry - although this will be interesting as I have heard that a third of psychiatrist posts are currently vacant
- most of the projects were within social psychiatry rather than clinical
- more joined up services needed
- socialstyrelsen believes that there need to be a long term committment to psychiatry

2007-08-01 Pressmeddelande



Satsningen på psykiatri och socialtjänst måste fortsätta

Socialstyrelsen har följt upp regeringens satsning på psykiatri och socialtjänst som initierades av Nationell psykiatrisamordning. Sammanlagt har 700 miljoner betalats ut under 2005 och 2006 till cirka 470 olika projekt. Rapporten lämnas till regeringen idag.



Socialstyrelsens uppföljning visar att genom satsningen har flera aktörer mobiliserats och bidragit till ökad ambition, ökat ansvartagande och större engagemang för personer med psykiska sjukdomar och funktionshinder på nationell, regional och lokal nivå.

Kommunernas och landstingens samverkan har förbättrats och nästan alla projekt driver man tillsammans. Det handlar om inventeringar, utbildningar, uppföljningar och utvärderingar. Kunskapen om målgruppens sammansättning och behov har ökat i och med detta. De allra flesta av de 470 projekten har prioriterat målgrupper med stora och sammansatta problem, t.ex. personer som har en psykisk störning och samtidigt missbrukar. Insatserna har även inriktats på målgrupper vars behov landsting och kommuner tidigare haft svårt att möta och där det ofta har saknats gemensamma lösningar.

Däremot visar resultatet att få konkreta insatser hittills kommit brukarna till del, t.ex. i form av nya boendeplatser och sysselsättningsverksamheter. Viktiga områden inom landstingen har inte heller berörts. Det gäller t.ex. primärvårdens arbete med psykisk ohälsa där en stor del av behandlingen sker. Det gäller också den psykiatriska öppenvårdens innehåll, organisering, och tillgänglighet, suicidprevention, psykisk ohälsa hos unga och psykisk ohälsa hos äldre. Den psykiatriska slutenvården, med undantag för rättspsykiatrin, har heller inte alls varit föremål för insatser.

Socialstyrelsen slutsats är att satsningen har haft positiva effekter inom de områden och för de målgrupper som avsågs men att stora problem inom psykiatriområdet kvarstår. Tillfälliga projektmedel är inte en effektiv metod för att slutgiltigt lösa de övergripande resurs-, struktur- och kompetensproblem som fortfarande finns på området.

Socialstyrelsen kommer att bedriva ett fortsatt och intensifierat stöd till utvecklingen inom psykiatrin och socialtjänsten inom ramen för NU!-projektet (Nationellt utvecklingsstöd till verksamheter för personer med psykiska sjukdomar och funktionshinder).

Under 2007 och 2008 kommer bland annat länsvisa konferenser arrangeras där resultatet av satsningen och uppgifter om utvecklingen inom området i övrigt presenteras.



Mer information

Satsningen på psykiatri och socialtjänst 2005-2006
Socialstyrelsens uppföljning

NU!-projektet




Kontakt

Anders Printz
075-247 33 99

Claes-Göran Stefansson
075-247 30 42

Nina Frohm
075-247 33 58



Uppdaterad: 1 augusti 2007

[Mike]

It's generally accepted that monopolies are inherently bad, but for some some very confused people who are easily seduced by the false promise of 'free', all that one needs to is put the word 'government' ahead of 'monopoly' and somehow - quite inexplicably - all is good and wonderful.

Fools.

Everything has a price. Freedom of choice and forfeiture of alternatives is about the highest price one can pay. Once you give give control to the bureaucrats, good luck getting it back. It's a one-way dead-end street.

word!

[High Priestess Kang - Slu...]

No, it's a news agency piece (by TT) summarizing an op-ed written in Dagens Nyheter. It's a perfectly fair report of what was written in DN by a group of civil servants.

It's not a detailed report, but it's perfectly legitimate for a short news article to stick to the salient points, as long as it is put in context and the sources are named.

What this piece of news shows that throwing money at a problem is not in itself a solution. What it does not show is that socialized medicine can never be an effective way of providing healthcare.

I know it's a report by TT. It also lacks the fundamentals of where it is failing, why it is failing, who it is failing and how it is failing.

Yeah. Money is wasted. Where? Treatment? Therpeutics?

Given the stigma attached to mental health issues in Sweden, why wouldn't one ask those questions? Is the failure because of the culture? Or is the failure because of execution?