Different baselines explain conflicting claims on healthcare queues

Both government and opposition figures can be supported by the data they used, SVT Verifierar reports, after Ebba Busch of the Christian Democrats claimed healthcare queues had fallen by 40 percent while Nooshi Dadgostar of the Left Party said they had increased by 30 percent.

Both calculations count people who have waited more than 90 days for a first visit to specialist care, or for surgery or another procedure. Both also exclude nine regions whose data was considered unreliable because they had changed record systems.

The main difference is the comparison period and how the calculations account for a change to Sweden’s healthcare guarantee in 2021.

The Christian Democrats’ calculation

Busch’s figure is based on an analysis of statistics from Sweden’s municipalities and regions, known as SKR, carried out by the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. The figures were adjusted for seasonal variations to compare October 2022, when the government took office, with June 2026.

That comparison shows a 41 percent reduction in the queues. Healthcare in October 2022 was still affected by queues that had built up during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Left Party’s calculation

The Left Party compares March 2019, before the pandemic, with March 2026. It used publicly available data from SKR’s database on access to specialist care over time to calculate the number of people waiting.

That comparison shows a 33 percent increase in the number waiting. The same result is obtained by comparing the average monthly figure for the first half of 2019 with the corresponding period in 2026.

SKR official Annika Brodin Blomberg told SVT that both sides had used correct figures based on the data they chose.

“You get the answer depending on how you ask the question,” she said.

The Christian Democrats have reported Sveriges Radio to the Broadcasting Commission after a presenter told Busch during an interview that healthcare queues had increased by a third since 2019. The party argues that Sveriges Radio failed to account for the 2021 change, which brought more specialist care visits within the healthcare guarantee.

SKR told SVT that it had accounted for the change and that its data could be compared over time, including with figures from before 2021. Johan Kaarme, director of SKR’s department for healthcare and social care, said the data from all regions had undergone several stages of quality control.

Government funding

The government has allocated nearly 25 billion kronor during its term to reduce healthcare queues and improve access. The funding includes support for regions to increase capacity, targeted measures to shorten queues for certain treatments and operations, and money for a national healthcare referral service.

Regions have also made their own investments. They have primary responsibility for healthcare and provide most of its funding. Their healthcare expenditure totalled about 430 billion kronor in 2025 alone.

Sweden’s statutory healthcare guarantee states that patients should receive contact with primary care on the same day, a medical assessment within three days when necessary, a first specialist care appointment within 90 days after a referral decision, and the start of approved treatment within 90 days.