
PRIMARY HEALTHCARE IN SKÅNE AND SWEDEN
Level of services
Primary healthcare centres provide services that do not require advanced medical equipment and is responsible for guiding the patient to the right level within the health system. Patients with chronic diseases, such as diabetes, asthma/COPD, chronic congestive heart failure etc, visit the healthcare centre for regular check-ups. Many procedures that used to require the patient to be admitted to hospital can now be carried out within this system. This is considerably more costeffective and also reduces the risk of hospitalacquired infections.
Most primary healthcare facilities have a teambased approach with close cooperation between different professional categories. The teams typically have 3-6 specialists in family medicine, nurses specialised in primary healthcare services, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and counsellors. The first point of call is normally a specialist nurse who, based on a standard triage model, makes an assessment of whether the patient needs to see a doctor or another person in the team.
Advanced home care is delivered by the hospitals in cooperation with the primary healthcare services whereas the local municipality authority usually runs the basic home-nursing services.
Strengths of the Skåne model
- Makes the most of your team through task shifting and effective triage models
- PPP solutions – public financing supports public and private provision
- Integration of primary and specialist care
- Strong prevention perspective, including lifestyle disease
- Documentation and monitoring for quality assurance
- Methodology development and training is an integral part of everyday work