Turku care home residents left without food overnight, showers delayed due to staff shortages

A welfare region in southwestern Finland has halted new admissions to a private care home in Turku after inspections revealed residents were left without food for excessive periods overnight and faced delays in accessing showers, public broadcaster Yle reports.

The Southwest Finland Welfare Region (Varha) announced on Tuesday that Parkinmäki care home will not receive new residents due to deficiencies in staffing levels, nutrition, outdoor access, and documentation of restrictive measures.

Inspections uncover multiple failures
Karolina Olin, partnership manager at Varha’s Supervision Centre, stated that staff shortages had led to residents waiting too long between showers, exceeding planned intervals. Overnight fasting periods—between the evening and morning meals—also exceeded the limits agreed in the service contract.

Additional shortcomings included insufficient outdoor access for residents, who by law must have daily opportunities to go outside. Documentation failures were found in records of restrictive measures, where decisions, implementation methods, and monitoring were not logged with sufficient precision.

Care home director acknowledges issues
Susanne Karlsson, managing director of Parkinmäki care home, confirmed to Yle that the deficiencies are being addressed seriously and that corrective actions have already begun. Plans based on the inspection findings have been submitted to Varha for review.

“We are currently awaiting Varha’s assessment of whether we meet all requirements,” Karlsson said in a text message, emphasising that the facility’s core mission is to ensure residents’ safety, dignity, and well-being.

Formal complaint to be filed
The welfare region conducted inspections on February 25 and March 4, prompted in part by reports of irregularities received by the Finnish Licensing and Supervision Authority (Valvira). Olin noted that the findings and investigations led to the decision to suspend new admissions and file a formal complaint.

While Olin did not directly comment on whether resident safety had been compromised, she stressed that the care home’s internal oversight had failed to function as required. Varha has set strict deadlines for corrections, with some issues requiring immediate action and others within weeks.

The care home will remain under enhanced supervision until all deficiencies are resolved.