The National Board of Health and Welfare’s guidelines are primarily intended for decision-makers within the healthcare sector, i.e. ‘politicians, civil servants and operational managers
’. They set out what the Swedish healthcare system should offer, but in many cases we are not currently meeting these targets. As for Parkinson’s teams, they exist in slightly different forms at several – but by no means all – hospitals in Sweden. The strictest definition of a Parkinson’s team ‘consists of a doctor, a nurse, a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist, a social worker, a psychologist, a speech and language therapist and a dietitian
’. In practice, very few people with Parkinson’s are likely to see all these professionals on a regular basis. However, according to the guidelines, the resources should be available, and if there is no complete team at the nearest hospital, you can ‘piece together’ the help you need, perhaps with the local authority, a health centre or other hospitals.
/Dag Nyholm