A total of 17,436 man-years in mental health and addiction services were reported in 2023 by the country's municipalities, and this is an increase from 2022 of 362 man-years, or 2.1 per cent.
The services within municipal mental health addiction services are changing. The resources used from year to year do not change much, however many municipalities are reorganizing their services to be able to provide better services to the target group. In recent years, half of the municipalities have made changes in the use of personnel resources in the services to the target group, and the proportion increases systematically with the size of the municipality. A further 21 per cent state that they have plans to make changes. Changes that have been made in recent years include changes in housing provision, more ambulatory and outreach services, establishment/strengthening of low-threshold services, new positions and changes in the distribution of tasks, strengthening of services aimed at children and young people, established/strengthened FACT team, established new units/services, established group-based offers/activities and more collaboration and that they use resources across services to a greater extent than before. But there are still less than half of the municipalities that state that they have services available to the target group in the afternoon and evening.
Some municipalities have chosen to strengthen health services to children and youths, and we see an increase of six per cent in man-years for these services from 2022 to 2023, and this is part of a longer trend we have seen since 2007/2008.
Many municipalities are experiencing an increase in the volume of inquiries and referrals to mental health and addiction services. There are 36 per cent who state that there is a small increase in the number of children and young people with mental health problems and 34 per cent who state a large increase, while 21 per cent state that there is no change in the number of cases last year. For adults, 41 per cent state that there is a small increase, while 36 per cent state that there is a large increase, and 18 per cent remain unchanged. There are no reports of a corresponding increase in drug-related services.
More than half of the municipalities (53 per cent) state that they have major or certain problems in offering necessary services to people who are assessed to be ready for discharge from the specialist health service. This is often about a lack of accommodation, and that they are given too little time to establish the service.
Many of the large municipalities now have broad and deep interdisciplinary expertise in the field of mental health and addiction, and can cover a wide range of needs with their services. Although there is still a demand for more support from mental health specialist services and TSB, eventually there will be municipalities that can manage the tasks without support from the specialist health service because they have systematically built up their own expertise and established sustainable services. The vast majority of municipalities are nevertheless dependent on good cooperation with the specialist health service for people with severe mental illness and addiction behaviour. Around ten percent of the municipalities state that they have poor cooperation with mental health services for people with severe mental illness, thus - in ninety percent of the municipalities it looks like the collaboration works well, although there is probably room for improvement in several places.
