Between 2016 and 2020, the government gave just over SEK 5.5 billion in support to Sweden's regions in a special initiative for maternity care and women's health.

The money has been used for what the regions themselves consider necessary, such as salaries, training or equipment. 

But when the Assignment review goes through what efforts the regions accounts for during that period, big holes appear.

See the report:

The unknown

Not reported even one percent

The interest organization Sweden's municipalities and regions, SKR, is responsible for collecting reports from the regions and following up on how the investment is going.

The accounts state, among other things:

Regions such as Gotland report almost every krona they have received through the maternity investment.

Sörmland, on the other hand, does not even tell how they used a single percent of the more than SEK 160 million they received.

The greater Västra Götaland region does not say what they did with almost 80 percent of the money.

Of more than 900 million in grants, they only report contributions for just over 200 million.

SKR: Not our responsibility

In total, around SEK 2 billion in the investment has not been reported.

It provokes reactions from healthcare professionals around the country.

- It has not gone to maternity care.

It has not gone to the mothers.

It has not gone to midwives, says midwife Camilla Segerlind to SVT Nyheter Skåne.

But SKR does not consider it their responsibility that it is not possible to see where every third krona from the grant billions has gone.

Emma Spak, head of the section for healthcare and health at SKR, believes that the maternity investment has been good.

The birth defects have decreased and a clear majority of the pregnant women are very satisfied with the care.

Javascript is disabled

Javascript must be turned on to play video

Read more about browser support

The browser is not supported

SVT does not support playback in your browser.

We therefore recommend that you switch to a different browser.

Read more about browser support

SKR: The state's responsibility to see how the maternity billions have been used.

Photo: SVT

Emelie Hultberg, board member of the Swedish Medical Association, thinks that SKR gets a problematic situation when it comes to the distribution of targeted government grants.

- SKR is an employer organization and a member organization that has to take care of the interests of its members.

The Swedish Medical Association would rather see the state use its authorities in directing this type of targeted state subsidy.

For example, the National Board of Health and Welfare or the fact that the Swedish Health and Care Inspectorate is used for supervision.

The maternity investment is still ongoing.

In 2020, the requirements for the regions were tightened.

For the first time, the government demanded that they repay money they did not use during the year.

In those reports, the regions raised a couple of hundred million more that year than in their reports to SKR.

READ MORE:

Hallengren (S): We have tightened the requirements

- It is important that you use the money, of course, for what it is intended for, says Minister of Social Affairs Lena Hallengren (S).

It's a little hard to know?

- We need to strengthen democratic control over welfare in various ways and to do so while we do not do it for administrative burdens.

I do not want healthcare staff to have to spend even more time on administration and bureaucracy.