In Norrköping, 79-year-old Eva Andersson was mistakenly served cat food instead of her requested breakfast by home care staff. The incident, attributed to a misunderstanding due to language barriers, has prompted the local municipality to review communication protocols within their services.
Elderly Woman Served Cat Food by Home Care Services in Norrköping
Elderly Woman Served Cat Food by Home Care Services in Norrköping
Eva Andersson, 79, was expecting to have cream with milk for breakfast when home care staff mistakenly served her a bowl of cat food.
"It's an unfortunate mistake," says Anette Asplund, head of home care services in Norrköping municipality.
Eva has been receiving home care for about two years due to a lung disease. One Monday in late June, she requested cream with milk from the home care worker present at her home. She was surprised when the plate placed in front of her contained cat food instead.
"I immediately said that this is cat food, I can't eat this. The staff then went to the kitchen and took a photo of the fridge," Eva recounts.
Eva had to point at the picture to explain what was human food and what was meant for the cat. She found it difficult to communicate with the employee.
"There were language difficulties. It's so frustrating when we can't converse with each other," says Eva, who also mentions that sometimes the home care staff do not speak Swedish well enough for her to be understood.
Home Care's Response: "Very Unusual"
Eva did not eat the cat food and contacted Norrköping municipality, responsible for her home care. Anette Asplund, head of home care services, states that it was a misunderstanding.
"The employee explained that they misunderstood what the care recipient said. It's an unfortunate mistake that occurred."
The municipality filed an incident report but chose not to make a lex Sarah report, which is required for misconduct in services like home care, as they believe it was clearly a mistake.
"It's a very unusual and isolated incident. We haven't had any other known incidents of this type in our operations," says Anette Asplund.
She explains that during the recruitment process, they ensure that staff speak Swedish well enough to work in home care, but they may need to review certain procedures.
"We need to address these types of signals and work individually with employees. Being able to speak good enough Swedish to perform the job is a basic requirement," she says.