Action group on the reorganization of the Asta clinic: Impaired care for sexually abused people

Monica Burman researches criminal law and men's violence against women at Umeå University.

When she found out that the Asta clinic would be part of the anxiety and trauma unit after a major reorganization in psychiatry in Västerbotten, she was very surprised and deeply concerned. 

- The traditional theories that exist in psychiatry for how to treat trauma simply do not work in this group, says Monica Burman. 

She is critical of the fact that the change is described as an organizational issue and believes that the risk of patients not receiving the right care has now increased.

Operations Manager: "we are expanding"

Sara Oscarsson Hannuksela is head of operations for psychiatry and she does not agree.

She believes that the business is secured and that they continue to work in line with the research that exists in the field.

The functions that existed at the old Asta clinic remain and the team has grown.  

- We follow the national knowledge management and we are expanding so that there will be more treatment alternatives than there have been before. 

Due to the reorganization, the action group "Do not close Asta" started, which gathered close to a thousand people.

One of those who got involved is Ing-Marie Hermansson, who was previously a patient at the Asta clinic.

According to her, many of "Do not close Asta" fears from last summer have come true.

- The multidisciplinary team is divided and those who sat on the many years of experience have chosen to quit, says Ing-Marie Hermansson. 

She says that patients end up in downpipes and that they either receive treatment for the symptoms or the exposure to violence and not both at the same time, which she believes is crucial for them to be able to return to a normal life.  

- They talk about lines and pipes and mainstream, it sounds like a factory, so it's people we're talking about. 

Sara Oscarsson Hannuksela does not agree at all that care has deteriorated.

She believes that one can still receive treatment for both exposure to violence and symptoms.  

- You can have a collaboration between different receptions depending on what problems you have.

It is not true that it is now downpipes. 

Hear more about the criticism in the video above.