The concept of a socially sustainable society is linked to the notion of equal access to high-quality welfare services and an equitable distribution of common resources. The rationale behind the introduction of private actors to provide welfare services is that greater choice will result in higher quality of service for individuals, achieved through a co-creation process. The purpose of this study is to examine the processes through which value is co-created when elderly are admitted to retirement homes. The study answers the following questions: (1) how do individual expectations differ between the applicants? and (2) how do the employees take the applicants' expectations into account when allocating the resources available? This study, conducted between november and december 2014, combines surveys with elderly who apply for a retirement home and interviews with employees at the municipality. Our study show that co-creation is related to intangible aspects, pragmatic alignment in resource integration, and conflicts between interests. © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press.

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the development of a model including parameters for matching health-care services to patients. Inspired by ‘engaged scholarship’, the researchers practised continuous and close collaboration with practitioners at Region Skåne in Sweden. The agenda was based on questions and experiences that evolved from theory and experience gained during previous research, while the practitioners’ agenda was based on problems and solutions arising within the organisation. As a result, mutual interpretations and concept creation were created and thus also the exchange of knowledge, information and competence between researchers and practitioners. The thoughts concerning the parameters included in a matching model emerged during meetings. The supportive data was conceptualised, converted and incorporated into an array of parameters illustrating coordination and matching in healthcare. T he healthcare matching concept, meaning a specified form of coordination, was applied as the main concept in the study. One contribution regarded how the coordination of health-care services occurs in Region Skane. An additional contribution was a discussion about which parameters are essential to include in the development of a matching model. Finally, there was a consideration concerning what kind of social values the matching model created. A fruitful way of implementing a matching model in healthcare is making use of a pilot project at a smaller organisation in a Swedish region.

Med stöd av diskursanalys belyser artikeln hur en sjukhusledning, med sjukhuschef, verksamhetschefer och smittskyddsläkare, hanterar antibiotikaresistens på sjukhus. En framträdande diskurs handlar om att påverka beteendet hos personal och patienter för att skapa renhet och engagera medarbetarna. Fraser som ”Rena händer är viktigast.” och ”Tvätta dina händer.” ingår i diskursen. Den andra, rumsliga diskursen, handlar om modifiering och planering av lokaler, för att öka möjligheter till isolering, ventilation och rengöring. Den handlar även om att separera patient - och anhörigvägar från personalvägar. En idé är att använda boenden för avancerad sjukvård. När sjukhusledningen kommunicerar det ”rena sjukhuset” för att motverka antibiotikaresistens krävs begripliga och tydliga råd samt ett engagerat ledarskap. Det krävs också ett ökat politiskt ansvarstagande.

Forskningen inom området samhällsekonomisk analys av antibiotikaresistens är begränsad och behöver utvecklas. I sådana analyser ingår att beräkna ökade vårdkostnader och samhällskostnader. Enligt Folkhälsomyndighetens beräkningar av framtida kostnader för antibiotikaresistens kommer antalet upptäckta fall i Sverige med anmälningspliktiga resistenstyper att fyrfaldigas från 15 500 fall år 2016 till 70 000 fall år 2050. De samlade ackumulerade kostnaderna bedöms uppgå till 15,8 miljarder kronor tom. år 2050. Därutöver tillkommer kostnader för ej anmälningspliktig resistens. För att kontrollera resistensutvecklingen behöver åtgärder som beteendeförändring och satsning på vårdhygien vidtas. Globala strategier för att motverka antibiotikaresistens behöver också implementeras. I kölvattnet av Covid-19-pandemin kommer det att uppdagas vilka ekonomiska konsekvenser en smittsam sjukdom får. Även om det finns skillnader kan paralleller dras till framtida ekonomiska verkningar av antibiotikaresistens.

Healthcare in Sweden is dealing with problems regarding accessibility for patients. Moreover, there is a lack of an overall model concerning matching specialist care to patients. Against this background, the purpose was to develop a preliminary healthcare matching model and discuss the barriers of this model. Theoretically, the study draws on the concepts of matching and coordination completed with value co-creation. Inspired by action research there was collaboration between the researchers and practitioners in the Skåne Region in Sweden between 2013 and 2016 (case one). Studies of policy documents, several meetings with strategists and analysis of a coordination meeting served as a basis for gathering empirical data concerning the process of coordinating patients and capacity. A completing study concerned analysis of the coordination of care guarantee service to the patients in the Halland Region (case two). Based on a theoretical analysis and analysis of two cases (in two regions) in Sweden it seems that an advanced matching, based on co-creation between patients, referrers and providers, is required in order to balance specialist care capacity to the needs of the patients smoothly. Both patients and providers could benefit from the use of matching healthcare. However, there are several barriers against healthcare matching: the Swedish legislation that includes minor incentives to cooperate between regions, the different cultures in the regions, and the strong professional identity in healthcare.In order to succeed in the notion of healthcare matching, there have to be active cooperation by the stakeholders involved. This article is original in the development of a preliminary model of healthcare matching concerning specialist care.