In healthcare and psychiatry, quilts with sewn-in weights have long been used to relieve anxiety and difficulty sleeping in patients in need.
From 1 July this year, the weight blanket will no longer be a subsidized aid in Kronoberg.
The decision was made by the health care management team following a recommendation from the national expert group MTP.
This has provoked strong reactions from parents whose children have benefited from weight blankets.
- It's outrageous.
Where you can use aids instead of medicines, it is a benefit for the whole society and for the individual, says Lena Klarefelt, chairman of the Heart Children's Foundation in Kronoberg.
No scientific evidence
The positive effects of the weight blanket do not have enough scientific evidence, according to the Medical Technology Product Council, which in the autumn issued a recommendation to all regions in Sweden to stop printing the aid.
- Why have weight blankets been prescribed before if it does not work now, Lena Klarefelt wonders.
In 2020, the Kronoberg Region purchased 330 weight blankets for just over 1.5 million.
With the subsidy, patients have only paid SEK 350 as a one-time fee.
Each weight blanket has been purchased for SEK 4,500 by the region.
- This is how it is with aids.
For a while it is prescriptive and when you notice that it is more easily accessible in the trade, you can remove it, says Malin Elingfors, rehab strategist at Region Kronoberg.