Jonas Andersson (L) is chairman of the Board of Health and Medical Services in the Västra Götaland region. He is proud of the region's implementation process, although it can sometimes be perceived as "lousy".

The process of the Västra Götaland region is based on three times a year deciding which new drugs the region should pay for, instead of giving the hospitals a pot of money to distribute how they want.

This is to gain better control over which drugs are used and the costs that arise.

- We make half a billion SEK a year, but that money is not enough. There is a far limit, if we do not constantly raise taxes. So we have to make a balance, a priority, to see what it is we can afford, says Jonas Andersson.

Uneven care in the country

The process of the Västra Götaland region has been criticized nationally and by the region's hospitals for being too inflexible, and for contributing to inequalities in health care in Sweden. For example, patients in Västra Götaland have to wait for medicines that patients in other county councils may already be prescribed.

After all, Jonas Andersson thinks it is important for the region to make its own priority, even if a medicine has been approved at the national level.

- It is clear that this is not an optimal situation, but if we want to make it a priority where we compare how important this medicine is to another medicine then we must collect this in these three rounds, he says.

"Something we end up in"

The fact that Pia does not get her medicine prescribed from Sahlgrenska, unlike patients in the same situation in, for example, Linköping, Lund and Umeå, Jonas Andersson cannot help but complain.

- This is something we get into occasionally. There is always a certain delay about this and I have full understanding of the frustration she feels in this case, he says.

The region has no plans to change its procedures, but Jonas Andersson says that the Health and Medical Board is constantly looking at how to make the process better.