Unique mapping of the healthcare system

The book “Hälso- och sjukvård som norm” (“Healthcare as norm”), written by three lawyers from the University of Gothenburg, describes the legal governance of healthcare, taking the patient’s legal position at its starting point. The book has been published by the University’s interdisciplinary Centre for Person-centred Care (GPCC).

At just over 800 pages long, the book takes a comprehensive approach to the Swedish healthcare system, describing how it is governed at four different levels: by the state, by the healthcare principle, by the healthcare provider and by the profession itself.

The book also offers a unique survey of the patient’s position and rights within healthcare, taking the 2014 Patient Act as its staring point. The act aimed to strengthen the patient’s position and integrity, and to provide more person-centred care, but its implementation has not generally been regarded as effective.

The authors – Ulf Petrusson, Christoffer Hermansson and Anna Borkmann – are lawyers and researchers from the Department of Law at the University of Gothenburg’s School of Business, Economics and Law. All three carry out research at GPCC, and also work at Chalmers University of Technology.

A new approach is required

The book, which will have its official launch on 10 June, presents a number of key insights and conclusions:

• The introduction of person-centred healthcare goes hand in hand with the implementation of the Patient Act. The two circumstances are conditional on each other: the implementation of the Patient Act allows for more person-centred care, while a person-centred approach is essential in order for the patient’s legal rights to be met.
• The transformation of healthcare in a digital age is dependent on strengthening the patient’s position.
• The development of healthcare is dependent on increased and extensive coordination and cooperation between the state, the healthcare principles, the healthcare providers, the healthcare professions and patient representatives.
• It is important that the “good and close care” and “knowledge management” reforms include an explicit ambition to implement the Patient Act.
• It is essential that the patient’s participation and person-centred care are included in the quality development of healthcare, as well as knowledge management.
• The implementation of the patient’s rights in accordance with the Patient Act appears to require a new approach from the state, which needs to put a more comprehensive package of measures in place.

Patient influence and development

The legal survey and the work on the book have been carried out over the course of several years.

“We want to strengthen the patient’s position within the system,” explains Professor of Law Ulf Petrusson. “We also want to show that the implementation of the Patient Act and the development of person-centred care are two intertwined processes within the transformation of healthcare.”

Healthcare is under constant pressure to adapt, with demands for new treatments, new technology and greater patient influence.

“This book gives those of us who work in the healthcare system a unique overview of the importance of law for the quality and development of healthcare,” adds Professor of Nursing Axel Wolf, director of GPCC. “This is something that has long been missing.”

According to Chair of the Network Against Cancer Margareta Haag, the book may also be useful for patient representatives: “The Patient Act must be implemented, and healthcare must become more person-centred so that the patient’s position can be factually strengthened. I hope that this book will be a valuable contribution to this work.”