Awareness and opinions on healthcare decommissioning in a Swedish region

Mio Fredriksson and Linda Moberg

Health Policy, 2020, vol. 124, issue 9, 991-997

Abstract: Decision-makers may have to decommission services as a response to budget deficits. The aim of this study was to investigate a case of decommissioning with regard to the public’s awareness and opinions. The analysis of a survey in a Swedish region that begun the implementation of an extensive decommissioning programme in 2015 shows that the majority of respondents were well or very well informed about the programme (68 %). A large proportion of the respondents thought the decision-makers to a low or very low degree had adopted appropriate measures to solve the economic problems (43 %), but together more respondents were either indifferent (39.5 %) or positive (17.5 %). Regarding the level of satisfaction with the region’s healthcare system, compared to prior to the decommissioning period, 30 % were less satisfied while together more were either indifferent (48 %) or had become more satisfied (22 %). The large share of indifferent responses opens up for various interpretations or framings of the programme outcomes. Trust in the regions’ healthcare system nevertheless increased during the same period. Furthermore, self-assessed health as well as age and utilization seem to be associated with healthcare system satisfaction during decommissioning. This illustrates heterogeneity in the public’s responses to decommissioning, which calls for further investigation.

Keywords: Decommissioning; Public perceptions; Public responses; Sweden; Local healthcare system; Budget deficits (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:124:y:2020:i:9:p:991-997

DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2020.05.016

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