Cataract grants may have relied on inflated regional figures

State grants for cataract operations may have been paid using figures that overstated the increase in surgery. Two national registers show sharply different results for 2025, raising questions about how regions qualified for performance money.

SVT's comparison found that the Patient Register showed a 13 percent rise in cataract operations against the 2022–2024 baseline used for grants. The National Cataract Register, which has higher coverage, showed only a 3 percent rise.

Regions reported their own figures to the Patient Register. Tomas Bro, a member of the cataract register's steering group, said the gap suggested state money may have been paid on incorrect grounds.

Improved reporting may explain part of the difference. Socialstyrelsen acknowledged that it could not rule out better reporting, rather than more operations, as the cause of the official increase.

Healthcare Minister Elisabet Lann told SVT that the worst outcome would be a region receiving slightly more money than it should, and argued that this did not mean the programme had failed. The cataract register recorded average annual growth of 4 percent over the past decade, leaving the grant's additional effect unclear.

DailySweden

DailySweden's desk of editors, reporters, researchers and investigative journalists. We bring readers factual, truthful and objective reporting on the issues that matter to them.

Contact the editorial desk ›