”Healthcare personnel who meet patients must have passed a language test in Swedish.”
It was an election issue in SVT’s election compass that all ruling parties in Region Västmanland (M, KD, and L) signed on to in 2022. Even the Sweden Democrats, who collaborate with the government, agreed with the statement. The Moderates, Christian Democrats, and Sweden Democrats marked the issue as especially important in the election compass.
Language officers to support colleagues
However, there will be no language tests for healthcare personnel in Region Västmanland. Instead, various types of further training are being tested. One option is for healthcare personnel to be trained to support colleagues, so-called language officers. Employees can also take courses in medical Swedish.
Currently, about ten employees are further educating themselves in one of the variants.
”The regional government has set a task to review so that our employees should master Swedish in order to be able to communicate with patients. Based on this, a project with language officers has been started to strengthen our employees’ language skills. This will be evaluated,” said Stephanie Bruksgård (M), regional councilor.
Why were there no language requirements or language tests?
”In our agreement, between the ruling parties, we have agreed that we need to find a solution to the criticism that patients do not always feel understood. Based on this, we set a task in our regional plan, which became this project,” said Stephanie Bruksgård.
In the clip, SVT follows nursing assistant Maya Laurila in Fagersta as she supports colleagues with language.
