Care in Gällivare is in its toughest staffing situation to date. With only three weeks to go until the first holiday season, summer schedules are still not set.
In general, it is difficult to replace retirements with new graduates, while at the same time there is fierce competition from, among other things, the mining industry for existing staff.
Staff lack competence
It is not surprising that IVO found several shortcomings in its review, including that staff lack competence for medical assessments.
In a large survey that the nurses themselves participated in, 80 percent answered that there are patient safety risks that affect the patient to a high or moderate degree.
The concern is shared by Social Manager Annette Viksten Åhl.
"We want to make sure that our users get the best possible care they should have," she says.
Lack of knowledge of Swedish
One reason for the lack of patient safety is in many cases the lack of knowledge of Swedish, IVO points out.
In the survey, the nurses estimated that only 30-50 percent of the health and social care staff have good knowledge of Swedish. As a result, they cannot rely on getting the information they need.
Here, however, the head of social services sees a brightening and an opportunity to be able to achieve a better staff situation in the future.
In the clip, Annette Viksten Åhl explains how the social administration works with training in Swedish for care staff.