According to the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), the situation in home care for the elderly has developed in the opposite direction from the targets sought over the past decade. Many of the elderly end up in institutional care because their problems are not dealt with in time.
The majority of Finland's over-65-year-olds live at home without any outside help. The aim of care policy is that the home continues to be the main residence of the nation's elderly, in part because care facilities are costly. In order to do so, more auxiliary public services will have to be made available, if only for the simple reason that there will be increasing numbers of the elderly.
Various types of aids for the elderly are under constant development, such as communication devices that allow social and healthcare personnel keep in contact with the elderly.
There are some major regional differences, with almost every municipality rolling out its own services model. For example, the city of Imatra in eastern Finland is currently testing a smartphone that keeps a record of all healthcare information.
When home visitation nurses head off to make their rounds, they do not need to first go to the office to check patient files. The plan is that some of the savings in time can be used to provide more care to those who need it most, and allow them to keep living at home.
Far from targets
There is a target in place for 13-14% of the nation's elderly over the age of 75 to be living at home with home care services available by the year 2012. The THL has found to its surprise that even with the efforts being made that target will probably not be reached.
Despite new technologies and new care models, coverage has fallen over the past decade.
THL Development Chief Reija Heinola sees the reason in attitudes. The elderly are provided home care services at too late a stage, usually not until they are already having health problems.
Heinola points to a need for the coordination of both private and public services in order to allow people to live at home longer.
"The life of the elderly should be made easier with better transportation, lifts and physical exercise services, they should be offered physical and mental activities," says Heinola.
Part of the problem is ascribed to budget savings measures by municipalities. Heinola sees this as a poor argument, since institutional care is clearly more costly.
"And this will get really expensive, if we keep on this same track," she points out.