With the help of foreign diplomas, nurses have been approved and legitimized by the National Board of Health and Welfare in Sweden. But even though the certificates are authentic, they have not participated in the teaching, Assignment shows survey mapping.

"Alex", who currently has a position at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, says that he went to the school in Romania to do the final exam. After that he got a diploma and became a registered nurse, first in Romania and then in Sweden.

- So far I've done pretty well, I haven't done anything wrong. Even in the emergency, you just call the ambulance.

"I said I have some experience"

During two of the three years that “Alex” studied as a nurse according to his diploma, he worked as a truck driver in Sweden. At the same time he read Swedish for immigrants.

To learn about the job, he worked as a nurse for a few months.

Have you considered that there could be a risk to the patient?

- I have said that in the interview also, that I do not have so much experience. And that I haven't worked before.

At least 27 people have been tricked into the care

"Alex" is not alone in being credited, even though he has not been properly educated.

Assignment survey surveys show that a total of 27 people in legitimate professions in healthcare, in various ways, have been fooled. It is then not only about people who say they have studied abroad, but also cases where, for example, they have forged their diploma. Some are currently being investigated by police. Others are already doomed - and some work in hospitals around Sweden.

In addition, 335 unlicensed doctors and nurses were employed without control. In these cases, the persons may have the right education for the profession - but have not applied for and received a certificate from the National Board of Health and Welfare.

But the survey also shows that there are several cases of nurses who just claim that they studied full-time as a nurse in another country, at the same time as they were written, and had income in Sweden. They are found in hospitals such as Danderyd, Sahlgrenska and S: t Göran.

The training is to take place full time

Within the EU, there is a directive that describes in detail how nursing education must go to ensure patient safety. The training should take place full-time, and contain 4,600 hours of teaching - half theory, half practical.

Nevertheless, schools in Romania and Poland have distributed diplomas to students who were not present during the education.

  • A woman earned around SEK 300,000 when she worked, among other things, as a shop assistant in Central Sweden, while also studying in Poland.
  • One man also earned him around SEK 300,000 a year, as a paver and for working on various construction projects in Stockholm. At the same time, he was enrolled and paid to attend a school in Romania.
  • Another man worked in Sweden as a truck driver when, according to his credentials, he must have studied daytime in Romania.
  • A woman who has been credited in Sweden worked full-time with a credit loan for a bank in Romania, while the school certifies that during the same period she studied for a full-time nurse.
Principal: I don't know every student

When Assignment Review visits one of the nurse training courses in Romania to ask for the diploma, the principal certifies that everything looks correct. Also for those people who during their studies in Romania have proven to have completely different jobs full time.

We have information that these people worked full time in Sweden. How is that possible?

- There are 600 students. I do not know every single one and do not know where they are moving and what they are doing. But if they come to school, have grades, do the exam, then we record the respective exam. This means that the person has been present at the school, says Ţăran Camelia.

- This situation is nothing I recognize, says Zara Warglo, head of the National Board of Health and Welfare, about the fact that nursing education in Romania distributed diplomas without proper education. Photo: SVT

The National Board of Health and Welfare is based on diplomas

Zara Warglo is Head of Department at the National Board of Health and Welfare. She has not heard of false nurses saying that they studied in Romania, when they really did something else.

- This particular situation is nothing I recognize. On the other hand, it is true that they have applied on the basis of genuine documents, and what we do when we look at these cases is that we look at the degree that has been submitted as the basis for their application. And we also request certificates from the corresponding authorities in these countries.

But do we know that these people have been elsewhere?

- Then this is something for the country to address. And our role then is to inform about this so that we can have a good dialogue. All of us, within the EU, need to work together and find solutions to the problem.

Assignment review report The nurse bluff was broadcast in SVT1 on Wednesday, November 14 and can be seen on SVT Play .