“Attitudes toward health care services have been collected annually since 2001 through a national population survey (Vårdbarometern). Comparisons of results across county councils and over time are presented at the Health Care Barometer web site. Since sample sizes are small and only cover 1000 individuals in each county council, data from the population survey only allow for comparison at an aggregate level. Results from the 2010 survey showed that 65% of responders had a high confidence in health care services within their county council. Differences across county councils were significant, however. On average, 82% of responders (75–88% depending on county council) thought that they had access to health care according to their need. Among those who did not think they had adequate access to services, shorter waiting times were considered important to improve the situation. Only 40% agreed fully or in part that waiting times for a visit to hospital were reasonable, compared to 63% for primary care. Both confidence and attitudes towards whether waiting times are reasonable have improved slightly since 2005.

“Since 2009, patient experiences have been collected separately through a standardized National Patient Survey (Nationella Patientenkäten) every second year. Previously, the Vårdbarometern also registered patient experiences among those individuals in the population who had been in contact with health services. The National Patient Survey provides new opportunities for more detailed comparison of experiences at the provider level. Results from existing surveys are presented at www.indikator.org/publik. So far, patient surveys have been conducted for primary care, emergency departments and specialized care. Patients are generally very satisfied with how they are received by physicians and nurses in primary care but demanded improvements in areas such as questions about previous health status, information about waiting times, side-effects of medicines and what signals to look out for concerning their health condition. Specifically, patients in specialized care called for improved attention to previous diseases and the health status of the patient as well as more information about the expected progress of disease. For emergency departments, patients demanded information about expected time to see a physician. Among the responders, 68% had waited less than 4 hours in the emergency department, but 17% had waited 4–6 hours and as many as 15% had waited for 6 hours or more.

“A number of reforms and interventions targeted at strengthening responsiveness to patients’ needs in general and improving waiting times in particular have been implemented (see chapter 6). An important emerging issue concerns patient safety, particularly in the hospital setting. Developments of RCCs include plans to strengthen collaboration with patient organizations and facilitate input from patients when improving services. Although a positive trend can be noted in terms of both objective and subjective measures of overall confidence and waiting times, changes are not significant and linkages to the reforms introduced are uncertain.”

Source: Anell A, Glenngård AH, Merkur S. Sweden: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2012, 14(5):1–159.
http://www.euro.who.int/en/about-us/partners/observatory/publications/health-system-reviews-hits/full-list-of-country-hits/sweden-hit-2012