In Eskilstuna, the work was stopped when home service personnel received short-sleeved rain ponchos as protection against the virus and in several places the employees were denied oral protection. 

In April, head safety agents around the country considered themselves forced to stop work no less than six times through so-called safety stops. The Swedish Work Environment Authority has, at SVT Agenda's request, listed the protection stops that were implemented due to a lack of protective equipment and concerns about the spread of infection by Covid-19. 

- Members say that they care for the elderly with found or suspected Covid-19 completely without protective equipment, says Elisabeth Antfolk at the union Kommunal in Stockholm.

worried

On average, an employee in the home service meets 12 elderly people during a work session. The time pressure is great and, in addition, more and more people testify that the employees are denied protective equipment by employers. Concerns about not being able to protect themselves and the elderly from being infected by covid-19 are growing. 

- We will not hesitate for a second to introduce more safety stops if needed. There will certainly be more to come, says Tobias Baudin, President of the Municipal.

In Stockholm there are about 100 private healthcare and care companies and the conditions look very different. 

- Some employers do not take care of others, says Elisabeth Antfolk at the Municipal in Stockholm. 

She is responsible for members working in private care and care in Stockholm. But the alarms also come from workplaces where the municipality is an employer. 

- Our directives are for home service personnel and caregivers to do the work as usual. We should treat the elderly with symptoms such as having a cold or seasonal flu. Only when a nurse or doctor finds or suspects Covid-19 are we able to retrieve protective equipment, she says.

"Can't continue like this"

The municipality carries out a survey every week during the corona pandemic. 10,000 safety representatives in health care and the elderly receive questions about the availability of protective equipment. The latest result came last Friday with a response rate of 26 percent. And the trend is positive, the security ombudsmen feel that it has become slightly better week by week, but it is clear that the turmoil remains and is greatest in the home service.

Forty-five percent of safety representatives answer no to the question of whether there is protective equipment in each home care worker in case of suspected or found Covid19 infection. 

- This is about people protecting our elderly. It cannot continue like this, says Tobias Baudin, chairman of Kommual.

In tonight's Agenda, the Senior Citizens and Security Citizens' Council Erik Slottner (KD) in Stockholm answers why staff do not get the protective equipment they want.