Although access to care in Trehörningsjö was limited to seeing a doctor once a week, it was important, says Sandra Fahlén, who lives in Trehörningsjö.
- Precisely because it was so small, it played such an extremely large role, she says.
She is disappointed with the region's politicians and officials who invited to civil dialogues where they promised improved care after the health center was closed.
But of that improvement, there was only change and deterioration.
Trehörningsjö lost its health center branch two years ago.
The fact that the region is placed at the bottom arouses more anger than surprise.
Photo: SVT
Every third person has to wait too long
Trehörningsjö with its more than 149 inhabitants may stand as an example, but the poor accessibility applies to the whole of Västernorrland.
Through a compilation of, among other things, statistics that measure how the regions live up to the care guarantee, Assignment review and the local news in Västernorrland can show that Västernorrland has had the worst accessibility in all of Sweden during the period 2016 to 2020.
Here, almost every third patient has had to wait longer for care than what the law says.
In the best regions, there are just under one in ten patients.
- I think it's about staffing, difficult to hire staff and for a long time, financially tough situation, says Glenn Nordlund (S), regional councilor Region Västernorrland.
See more about care in Västernorrland in the clip above.