| Popis: |
In 2018, a new welfare law was implemented in Sweden aiming to increase the collaboration between hospital care, primary care and municipalities in cases where patients are in need of continued care and attention after they have been discharged from inpatient care (the Collaboration Act, my translation). The legislation contains instructions on the division of responsibilities between the different actors involved in the collaboration, but also provisions about municipal payment responsibility in cases where patients can´t be discharged from inpatient care at hospital within three days from the day he or she has been assessed as medically finished by the responsible doctor. This study aimed to describe and analyze the significance of the Collaboration Act for care managers in cases where elderly people have been discharged inpatient care. The empirical material was collected through qualitative interviews with six care managers. In order to analyze the empirical material a theoretical framework has been used consisting of Lundquists theory on officials as guardians of democracy and Lipskys theory on street-level bureaucrats. The result indicates that the care managers working methods are unchanged, but that the pace has increased in the care planning process. This means that the same amount of work must be performed as before, but with a more limited time before the municipal payment responsibility arises which has led to a consequence with inadequate investigations and needs assessments for the elderly client. To handle this dilemma, care managers overcompensate the elderly client with care interventions to create a feeling of security when they are dischared from inpatient care. |
