Safe and reliable healthcare

Patient safety means ensuring that patients are not harmed during healthcare treatment or medical procedures. Safe care is a cornerstone of all quality work within the healthcare service.

If anything goes wrong

Everyone working in the healthcare service tries to provide the best possible care to patients. Even so, things do sometimes go wrong in healthcare. If anything does go wrong, healthcare professionals are obliged to report the incident. Risks must also be reported. Under the Patient Safety Act, healthcare providers are required to investigate incidents that could have caused harm to a patient, or that have actually caused harm. The supervisory authority for this is the Health and Social Care Inspectorate (IVO). 

As a patient or relative of the patient, you are entitled to receive the information and support you need. You should also receive information indicating that you can report the incident to the Patient Advisory Committee, the Health and Social Care Inspectorate (IVO)(Extern länk), the regional mutual insurance company (Löf)(Extern länk) and the Swedish pharmaceutical insurance scheme(Extern länk).

Systematiska metoder ger resultat

Safe healthcare is achieved through a structured and systematic approach to patient safety, where patient injuries are prevented through active risk prevention measures, continuous learning, exchange of experience, continuous improvement, follow-up and internal monitoring. Good healthcare is characterised by being evidence-based and appropriate, safe, patient- and person-centred, effective, equitable and accessible. All units have local strategies for their patient safety efforts. 

You can contribute

Feedback and complaints from patients and their relatives provide an important source of information for continuously improving healthcare, increasing patient involvement and strengthening patient safety. As a patient or relative, therefore, we encourage you to let us know if anything has gone wrong so that we can investigate the cause and identify opportunities for improvement.

The healthcare guarantee is part of the Health and Medical Services Act and sets out the maximum waiting times within which you must be offered care by the regional health authority. 

The healthcare guarantee the maximum time you should have to wait to be seen by a healthcare professional. It also specifies the maximum time you should have to wait to receive the care you need. Primary care and specialist clinics have different time limits.

Please contact your clinic if you have any questions. They should be able to provide you with information on the healthcare guarantee and how long you will have to wait. Your clinic can also help you find another clinic with shorter waiting times if the healthcare guarantee cannot be met.