Services for the Elderly People

Oulu is the sixth largest city in Finland with a population of 127 200. From the point of view of social and welfare service provision, Oulu has a positive population structure. When looking at population trends in the largest Finnish cities, Oulu is the one with the fastest ageing population. There are about 5% (6500 inhabitants) over 75 years old and almost 12% (14 300) over 65. By the year 2015 there are already 8000 over 75 years old. The budget in elderly care for the year 2005 was €63,7m, or € 4451 per person over 65 .

The vision of elderly care in Oulu is:
Elderly people in Oulu live independently and accessibly in their homes, where high-quality services are available when they are needed. For those who are not able to cope at home, a sufficient number of high-quality sheltered housing units with 24-hour service and institutional care facilities are reserved in a service-oriented and client-centred environment. The city of Oulu provides an accessible environment where the elderly can live, move, get information and participate.

The targets of elderly care in Oulu as follows:

• 91 % of those over 75 are able to live at home with different services
• 3-4 % of those over 75 live in sheltered housing with 24-hour staffing
• 5-6 % of those over 75 live in long-term institutional care
• short -term hospital care and rehabilitation is available for about 1% of those over 65

The need for sheltered housing and nursing care can be postponed to a later age with the aid of preventive elderly care and technology aimed at supporting coping at home. This calls for active preventive and rehabilitative actions, modern safety technology and supporting empowerment, participation and independent health-promotion among the elderly.
Multidisciplinary co-operation is also required, so that the needs for independent coping of the elderly are taken into account in various fields, with respect to an accessible living environment, traffic, social participation and health-promoting physical exercise. For example a physical exercise programme for the elderly has been drafted as a joint project with the City of Oulu´s sport office, private service providers and other actors in the field.

In addition to sufficient human resources, the city of Oulu invests in research and development of wellness technology applications that support the abilities of the elderly in particular, to manage in their own home.

Home care

Regional Elderly Care- service unit provides home care services, social work, day activities and sheltered housing for the elderly. Home care refers to home help as well as other supportive services (meals, security, cleaning, errands, bathing/hygiene, transportation and escort) and home nursing. Home care is available seven days a week and 24 hours a day. The clients pay a fee for the service they use. The fees of regular recipients of services are based on family size and gross income.

The operating model of home care is based on multi professional teamwork. There are five local administrative home care units, which are based on health station districts. The home care team works client-centred cooperation with General Practitioners and other public health, rehabilitation and social work experts.

When need for home care arises, the aim is to make a visit to the home of the client to assess service need within two days at the most. When the client is discharged home from the hospital, the target is to arrange home care within 24 hours.

When regular home care is provided, an electronically stored care and service plan is drawn up on the basis of resource charting carried out jointly with the client and her family. The Effica Home Care- client information system was developed in a EU-funded project from 2001 to 2003 and was taken into use in home care on 1 April 2004. Mobile technology has been developed as a part of the home care information system in a co-operation with CCC-Celesta and Tieto Enator.

If a chronically ill or severely disabled person is cared for at home, the caregiver can receive informal care allowance under certain conditions. The most crucial criteria for granting allowance is for family caregivers is binding and demanding nature of care. Informal allowance is taxable income for the recipient, and pension is accrued.

Day activities are rehabilitating activities that make use of and appreciate the resources of the client and promote social interaction, which also helps the elderly to cope at home.

Hospital and institutional care

Institutional care refers to short-term care in Oulu City Hospital (OCH) , and to care in long-term institutions.

Oulu City Hospital ( 170 beds) offers short-term further treatment and rehabilitation mostly to patients coming from Oulu University Hospital. Moreover, OCH gives acute treatment within primary health care to patients arriving from the Regional Emergency Rooms in Oulu area. The hospital has been built especially for geriatric patients. OCH has six wards working in geriatrics and internal medicine, in rehabilitation, in emergency services and in terminal (hospice) care. Moreover, it has a ward for demented patients with behavioural disorders. The hospital also has out-patient clinics giving specialised medical care for all adults in Oulu in the fields of general internal medicine, gastroenterology, cardiology, rheumatoid diseases and gynaecology.

The institutions providing long-term care are Hiirosenkoti (room for 215 residents), Tuirankartano (room for 90), Intiön hoivakoti (room for 90) and Lassintalon hoiva (room for 46). Patients for long-term institutional care are selected by the SAS—group (SAS=acronym of the Finnish words meaning charting-evaluation-placement), which comprises a nurse and a geriatrician. The majority of patients have undergone evaluation at OCH and are transferred directly from OCS to long-term care institutions. Some patients come to long-term institutional care directly from home.

> Read more about Oulu City Hospital


Contacts 

Tel. +358 8 558 410 (switchboard)
Director Mrs. Anna Haverinen
Tel. + 358 44 703 4018
anna.haverinen(at)ouka.fi