Health, Welfare and Quality of Life

Variety, community, complexity
Conurbations, industrial centres, small towns and sparsely populated countryside. Relocating, commuting, thriving trade and industry. Stagnation, dynamic activity ... There's much that the different parts of Västra Götaland have in common, just as there's much that distinguishes them from each other.

Göteborg and its surrounding region offer the wide range in terms of labour market, industry, research and development, training and educational facilities, services and cultural life that one expects of any major conurbation. But the northern parts of Bohuslän, Dalsland and Västergötland are becoming more and more sparsely populated. The towns and villages of the flatlands are characterized by agriculture and associated industries, while the original chapmen and textile pioneers of the area around Borås have been succeeded by more modern tradesmen and industrialists. And the capacity of the River Göta as a source of hydro-electric power and means of transportation has turned its valley into a centre of industry.

In Dals Ed, Trollhättan and Åmål the level of unemployment is high. But in the municipalities in the region around Göteborg, and in the southern part of Älvsborg, levels are lower than the national average.

New health and medical care organization from 1999
Responsibility for ensuring that the population of Västra Götaland has access to good health and medical care facilities at presents rests with the three county councils of Bohuslän, Skaraborg and Älvsborg and with Göteborg City Council. With effect from 1999 their operations will be unified and will form part of the new regional organization.

Primary care at local level
It is to the district health care centres handling primary care that patients turn in the first instance. Primary care includes the services of these centres and of doctors' surgeries, on-call centres, visits from district nurses, home health services, child health centres, maternity centres, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and preventive care services.

Specialist care at hospital level
Specialist medical care under public management is handled by 17 hospitals in the new administrative region. The size, resources and specialist areas of these hospitals vary. They include the very large, highly specialized Sahlgrenska University Hospital (SU) and much smaller hospitals serving rural areas, such as Skene General Hospital.

A number of major structural changes have already taken place and mergers have already been completed at hospital level, while in many areas the reorganization is still in course of completion. The result will be the creation of four major hospital groups:

• Sahlgrenska University Hospital Group, comprising SU Sahlgrenska, SU Östra and SU Mölndal, based on Göteborg
• Södra Älvsborg Hospital Group, comprising Borås County General Hospital, Alingsås General Hospital and Skene General Hospital
• Norra Älvsborg Hospital Group, comprising Norra Älvsborg County General Hospital in Trollhättan, Uddevalla County General Hospital, Dalsland General Hospital in Bäckefors, Lysekil General Hospital and Strömstad General Hospital
• Skaraborg Hospital Group, comprising Skövde County General Hospital, Mariestad General Hospital, Falköping General Hospital and Lidköping General Hospital

In addition to these groups there will be two smaller hospitals: Frölunda Specialist Hospital in Göteborg and Kungälv Hospital.

High standards of dental care
The county councils are required by law to provide all children and young people with free dental care, curative as well as preventive. Generally speaking, children in Western Sweden enjoy a very high standard of dental health.

Preventive health care
Helping to ensure that people do not become ill or injured is yet another important aspect of the county councils' health and medical care responsibilities. It involves everything from dietary and activity studies, the problem of smoking, the use of alcohol in preventive medicines for children, vaccination, health surveys, parenthood training, and sexual relations and cohabitation among young people. More than this, it may also be a matter of cooperation, for example between different municipalities, with a view to prevention of injuries, better rehabilitation for the chronically ill and activity centres for the unemployed, to name but a few further aspects.

Taking the overall view
Good health is not simply a matter of not falling ill. The county councils take a much wider view of health and welfare than that. And there is one aspect in particular that is achieving more and more prominence, and will become one of the principal tasks of the new regional organization: that of ensuring the quality of life, i.e. the welfare of the population in the widest terms. It includes, for example, the taking of steps to ensure that environment, public services, infrastructure, communications, cultural activities, training and education, working conditions and facilities for recreation all function in the way they should, throughout Västra Götaland.

A tradition of cross-border cooperation
The authorities responsible for health and medical care in Western Sweden have cooperated closely with one another for many years past, with a view both to smoothing the path for patients and to making the best possible use of the resources they have available to them. The tradition is embodied in KVG, the Västra Götaland Association of County Councils, whose function is to reach joint decisions about the options available to patients, the charges payable by them, and the planning of medical care at provincial and regional level.