Government presents updated national dementia strategy

Every year around 20 000 Swedes are diagnosed with dementia and 150 000 people are living with the disease. To address the challenges that health and social care services are facing, the Government is now developing the strategy for the care of people with dementia that was adopted in 2018. 

The updated strategy ‘Every Day Counts: National Dementia Strategy 2025–2028’ identifies several priority areas of particular importance for people with dementia, especially in terms of increasing equity in diagnosis and care and cooperation between regional and local authorities. The strategy will cover the areas of health and medical care, dental care and social services. 

“Every day must count for people living with dementia and for their relatives. Anyone who is diagnosed with dementia must receive the support and care necessary to continue to lead a full life. The updated national dementia strategy takes a broad approach to the issue by including prevention, health and medical care, research and social care so that together we can strive to improve the daily lives of people living with dementia,” says Minister for Older People and Social Security Anna Tenje. 

“For too long dementia care has been focused on nursing care. With the updated strategy, we are now setting clear goals in areas to do with preventative initiatives, diagnostics and health and medical care based on the needs of the individual. The strategy also particularly focuses on improved support for relatives. We’re doing this to ensure that people diagnosed with dementia will be able to lead a dignified and meaningful life,” says Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health Jakob Forssmed. 

“When someone suffers from dementia, everyone around them is also affected. That’s why it’s incredibly important that we improve the quality of life of sufferers and ensure that they can live in dignity. With this strategy we’re not only improving health and social care, but also ensuring that people with dementia are able to live their lives, for their entire lives,” says Malin Danielsson, senior policy spokesperson for the Liberal Party.

The updated strategy includes four new components: a set time-frame, clear goals to facilitate follow-up, and several new areas, including health and medical care, dental care and preventative measures. In conjunction with the adoption of the strategy, the Government also plans to approve a number of government agency assignments and funding to support implementation, follow-up and development of the strategy and health and social care for people with dementia.

Based on two premises

The strategy is based on two premises:

The first is that dementia is not part of normal ageing. Age is a risk factor, but even people who are not of advanced age can be affected. New knowledge about possibilities to prevent the risk of developing dementia must be applied in health and social care. 

The second premise is that it should be possible to lead a dignified and meaningful life with dementia, and access to adequate care and support is a vital part of this. Today, it is possible to diagnose dementia earlier and develop a wider range of treatment methods. 

Enhanced knowledge management focused on dementia 

Conditions for quality elderly care are improved by knowledge-based services. The Government is therefore investing SEK 100 million in 2025–2027 in Sweden’s regional cooperation and support structures. This funding will be used to improve the capacity of local authorities to develop and provide knowledge-based elderly care, with a focus on health and social care for people with dementia. 

In conjunction with the adoption of the national dementia strategy, the Government also intends to adopt two government agency assignments in the area of dementia. The National Board of Health and Welfare will be tasked with promoting improvements in health and medical care, social services and dental care for people with dementia. The Swedish Agency for Health and Care Services Analysis will be tasked with establishing whether knowledge and experiences from cancer care can improve health and social care for people with dementia. 

In addition, the Government intends to grant the Swedish Dementia Centre SEK 1.5 million to improve the dissemination of knowledge relating to dementia, and SEK 3 million each to two national quality registers in dementia area: the Swedish Dementia Registry (SveDem) and the BPSD registry (register of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia).