At the end of October, SVT News West reported that the Rescue Service at Tjörn wanted to see jump protection from the bridges. This got many reactions.

Most people who chose to inquire felt that it was more important that more money was spent on psychiatric care and preventive work than building, for example, hope protection.

Reduced access to "means and methods" for suicide is one of the points identified by the Public Health Agency for nine points in a national action program for suicide prevention. Several of the other points relate more directly to care in various instances.

How much money is distributed to the psychiatric care in Västra Götaland County is decided by the various health committees and coordinated by the Psychiatry Board. For 2019, the pot for the hospitals is just over four billion.

The Chairman of the Preparation Gunilla Druve Jansson (C) does not believe that it is more than money needed for more accessible psychiatric care.

- We have to make sure that we have the right patients and the right staff in the right place. Here is something that we must continue to work on, but we do not have reduced resources for psychiatry in terms of money, but they have increased, she says.

As an example, she mentions that several health centers have been strengthened to better absorb mental illness among young people. It is a venture that you want to expand and possibly permanently. Gunilla Druve Jansson (C) says she also wants to find out if the same solution can be created for adult psychiatry.

- We talk a lot about savings and efficiency improvements when we might need to review how we use the resources we have best. We need to change the “mind set,” she says.

On this theme, Gunilla Druve Jansson (C) emphasizes that they now offer KBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) over the Internet.

Last week, SVT Nyheter Väst and many other media reported on the savings proposals that lie at Sahlgrenska Hospital. Gunilla Druve Jansson (C) points out that how the money is managed is up to each hospital and the local health and medical boards.

Talking about the care alone, and how the money is distributed there, in connection with suicide prevention, she thinks is to make the issue too narrow.

- It is just as important to have a “whole society” approach. It is important that we invest in culture, in the work environment to reduce the number of people who do not feel well.

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