Rapportering och bedömning av missförhållanden (lex Sarah)

En jämförelse mellan små och stora kommuner

Abstract

The obligation to report mistreatments in social services in Sweden is regulated in the Social Services Act (lex Sarah). Each municipality must investigate reports, and serious mistreatments should be reported to IVO. The purpose of this article was to compare the number of reports and assessments of abuses in large and small municipalities, and to discuss differences. All reports with investigations within the entire social services for one year and in one county (N=1105) were reviewed. The result showed that small municipalities (<15,000 inhabitants) had more reports per inhabitant, more serious mistreatments as well as unclear assessments compared to larger municipalities. The result was discussed in relation to different forms of organization in the municipalities. The study indicates that assessments of mistreatments differ between different municipalities.