Speech at Eurocarers conference in Stockholm (29 May 2008)
I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you here today. The issues that you are gathered around to discuss on this conference are extremely important. To upgrade and to strengthen the situation of carers is a crucial issue that we need to work on in the coming years.
The support that society gives to carers has a lot of deficiencies. I would like to agree with one of the guiding principles of your organization: That carers should be recognized for the central role they play in community care.
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In Sweden we have a system of public social services and public health and medical care. According to this system, everybody is guaranteed to receive care on equal terms when they need it. In my country we see that the respect and the recognition of what carers do is increasing. My government recognizes that the role of carers is absolutely crucial. If they would go on strike - even if it was only for one single day – this would cause a breakdown of the social and the health care system.
Without the work of these unpaid carers, the formal care systems would be totally unsustainable. Many acute needs would remain unattended. A family member can be invaluable for persons with mental disabilities. It is not seldom that a family member is keeping up the network that the disabled person needs in order to participate in society.
I’m sure that you are familiar with all kinds of situations where the life and well-being of old and young people depends on their relatives, on their friends, children, husbands or wives.
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Perhaps it might be interesting for you to hear how the situation has developed in Sweden. The major part of the elderly care and the care of persons with disabilities is organized and financed by the municipalities. The health and medical care on the other hand is organized and financed by the county councils. During the past ten years, services provided by carers have been increasing. At the same time we have seen the development that services provided by the municipalities,
have become concentrated to fewer people. The recipients of these services have greater needs since they often suffer from multiple diseases. Elderly women and men with minor needs have been put aside. This situation is not acceptable.
In Sweden approximately 650.000 persons over the age of 55 give help on a regular basis to someone close who is sick, elderly or has a disability. This is one of every four persons over the age of 55. Being a carer is most common in the age of 75 and up to 84 years of age. And it is equally common that it is a husband as it is a wife. These carers cares for her husband or his wife daily or several times a week. However, the largest group among the carers are persons aged 55 or older who help someone they do not share a household with once a week or more seldom. Altogether this means that a lot of people are taking an active part in caring for a relative.
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Therefore my government has a clear ambition: Carers will be provided with better support. To give this support will now become an obligation for municipalities. We have recently sent a proposal for a change in the Social Services Act for consultation to the municipalities and several organizations. This change will give municipalities the obligation to offer time-off and relief to carers. The motive for clarifying this in the legislation is that carers need acknowledgement for what they do. And a motive is also to prevent the carers from becoming mentally or physically ill.
Better systems of support for carers will prevent them from increasing their own need of health care and social services.
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I had the privilege to speak at a conference organized by the European Commission in March this year. The title was “Protecting the dignity of older persons – The Prevention of Elder Abuse and Neglect”. There is a clear focus of health promotion – also in the European debate. When Sweden will be President of the European Union - in the autumn of next year - my aim is to work intensively with elderly issues.
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Every year, the Swedish government supplies 100 million Swedish kronas – equal to 10 million Euros – to the support of carers. The total amount in his field, if we include municipal funding, is of course much bigger. Some of the national financing is also aimed at strengthening the national input to a dissemination of experiences. This is why I recently inaugurated a national competence center for caregivers. We need a better overview and knowledge of the national situation. And knowledge-based working methods must be implemented. Knowledge which is based on science must reach those who work in elderly care.
The National Board of Health and Welfare has a mission to follow up, analyze and evaluate how municipal support to carers is developed. And the Swedish Carers organization, led by Åke Fagerberg, is also a valuable partner in this work.
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The National Board of Health and Welfare also has a mission to perform national client surveys about social services for elderly people. The aim is to observe quality and accessibility of social services on a national level, and to clarify if there are differences in various parts of the country. Another survey has been made by the National Board of Health and Welfare. These preliminary results on the municipalities’ support of family carers shows that a lot of development is being made around the country.
Approximately 95 percent of municipalities report that they are developing their support for carers. The developments are manifested through the increasing selection of different kinds of support that the municipalities provide. Today almost every municipality can offer the carers relief by providing their dependants care in short-term housing. Relief can also be offered in daycare or by care in the own home. A clear majority of the municipalities can also offer the carers training, counseling and group-meetings.
The developments are also manifested in a greater focus on co-operation between the municipalities and other parties. For example, it can be co-operation with the primary health care, the institutional care, other municipalities and with voluntary and non-profit organizations. The voluntary organizations have an important and increasing role when it comes to carers. They are active for example with support groups, education and relief centers.
It has also become more common that the municipalities educate their staff. The education can focus on the situation of the carer, the different forms of support that the municipality can offer and how the staff can improve their treatment of carers.
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I would like to tell you about a few local examples that I find very interesting. In a town up north – Hudiksvall – they have developed a center for carers with a health profile. They have a spa and a relax-unit with massage and training facilities. I think that support to immigrants is essential. In a part of Malmoe they work with a specific model to reach carers who are unknown to the municipality. This includes people who speak different languages and they have established a meeting point in order to reach the carers.
All over the country there is a great need for meeting points. During last year over a hundred meeting points for carers were started. While in the rural areas there can be mobile support groups for carers. Different kinds of technical equipment can also be of big help for carers. Several municipalities are involved in ACTION, an IT-based support for carers.
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The development on the local level is exciting. I am extremely grateful for what carers do in our country and all over Europe. And I strongly feel that I have a responsibility to develop a better support, better information and better relief for carers. Carers need to be safe in the knowledge that when their efforts are not enough, there is access to formal care and social services.
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I hope that you will have interesting days here in Stockholm. Enjoy our town. Hopefully you will return to your usual duties with new inspiration. And a clear vision of how to develop the support for carers.
Thank you.