Sissel Wold, manager of Burträsk hälsocentral.
When it comes to criticizing the Swedish healthcare service, I’m no angel. I’ve raged at health authorities splashing the cash on asking tired healthcare workers to delay their summer vacations because of staff shortages.
I’ve also sniped at Barn- & ungdomspsykiatri (BUP - the psychiatry service for children and youth) for its long queues.
Such criticisms are not always unwarranted, but I do feel a little guilty when I raise these issues. For one thing, the problems of Norrland’s health service are nothing as bad as in my old home, the UK.
The state-run NHS has been in crisis and endured some of its toughest times in recent years, struggling to recover from the impacts of covid-19 and government spending cuts.
I also feel regretful because my experience of the Swedish healthcare system has been so good.
What first impressed me about the healthcare here was the efficiency. Unlike in the UK, where a Tuesday, 11am appointment is often just a suggestion as to which day you should turn up, here it was a precise time.
Despite the cutbacks, I had mainly good dealings with the NHS but many of the staff employed were overworked and, as a result, about as caring as a needle in the eye.
The staff here were born to be in healthcare. They’re compassionate and knowledgeable.
And it all starts at my local healthcare center in Burträsk, where the staff are sensationally good at their jobs. And not just at their main occupation, providing healthcare (which they’re very good at).
They’re also caring and flexible, as evidenced by doctors and therapists writing to me in English.
The first time it happened I was amazed - that they’d take the time to write short letters to me to ensure I understood the results of whichever test I’d taken was remarkable. I would’ve been happy to Google Translate the message, but they went the extra mile.
The staff at Burträsk Hälsocentral are uniformly brilliant. From left, Ranja Bjurman, Sissel Wold, and Birgitta Pettersson.
This was all way before Northvolt’s establishment, and anyway Burträsk isn’t home to many Northvolters - we’re a little too far away from the plant to attract lots of newcomers.
There have been numerous other simple kindnesses (keeping my daughter’s lost soft toy for three weeks, arranging an intepreter for an appointment with a barnmorska when my sambo fell pregnant just weeks after moving here etc.).
And it’s not just us - other non-Swedish people we know in the area also rave about Burträsk hälsocentral.
So bravo, lovely Ranja, Sissel, and Birgitta - you have made our new lives in Sweden hugely better. Thank you.
This is a column and the views are the author's own.