- Previously, we sometimes bought places in other regions. It is not possible now. They also have a care debt, says Lotta Olmarken Ingler, health director of the Dalarna region.

"Alarming"

The Dalarna and Västra Götaland regions state that the queues will increase further this summer.
If the pandemic continues, according to the Medical Association's investigators, there is a risk that 200,000 surgeries can be canceled this year. The forecast is based on data from the SPOR quality register.

- Sweden's healthcare debt is alarmingly large. It was big before the pandemic, says Heidi Stensmyren, chairman of the Medical Association.

Risk of more sick leave

The nursing staff is afraid that already postponed holiday weeks should be further advanced.

- I think we will have a lot of sick leave this fall. Given that we have a large mountain of care and do not know where the pandemic is heading, there is great fear that these holiday weeks will not be spent, says Anna Åström, Uppsala Medical Association.

The gender has doubled

Jönköping states that the sex of care has increased by 50 percent and in Halland the sex of orthopedics has doubled. 

Up to week 23, the Academic Hospital in Uppsala performed 2,000 fewer operations compared to last year.

- If we still have a high corona load in the fall, it will be very difficult to increase the pace of working back the care debt we have built up, says Bengt Sandén, Deputy Hospital Director. 

Hidden care debt

In Kalmar you talk about a hidden care debt. That the influx of new patients who would normally have sought care has stopped because of the crisis. 

There are regions that are not worried that queues will increase further this summer. But everything depends on how the pandemic develops. And the employers' organization Sweden's municipalities and regions cannot guarantee that deferred holidays can be taken out in September.

SKR cannot guarantee that deferred holidays can be taken out in September. - It is based on where the pandemic takes the road, says Jeanette Hedberg, deputy negotiating head at SKR. Photo: Josefin Lennen Merckx

- It is very difficult to give guarantees. According to the forecast, the healthcare staff should be able to take a vacation in September. But it is based on where the pandemic goes. If it goes in the right direction, you should do it, says Jeanette Hedberg, Deputy Negotiation Manager, SKR.