More than 300 Central Finland home care workers warn of strain

More than 300 home care workers in Central Finland have warned of staff shortages and rising workloads, saying rushed schedules are affecting both employees and elderly clients, Yle reported.

The workers submitted a statement to the Central Finland wellbeing services county in mid-October. It said shifts are regularly understaffed even as the number of clients and their care needs increase. Many employees are working at their limits, the statement said.

Workers said the pressure and ethical strain of not having enough time to provide care as required by law are causing exhaustion, sick leave and requests for part-time work. Clients may not receive care at the right time: a morning visit can happen only in the late morning, while an evening visit may be delayed until as late as 9.30pm.

The idea for the statement came from a home care unit serving the Kypärämäki and Kuohu districts of Jyväskylä. Practical nurse Susanna Tikka said it was prompted by genuine concern. More than 300 employees from several teams added their names through an email collection.

Managers say concerns will be investigated

Marika Noso, who leads services for older people and people with disabilities at the county, said the workers’ account was valuable and would be taken seriously. She said the county was already working to improve several of the issues raised.

Maarit Raappana, director of home and residential services for older people, also said the concerns would be examined. However, she said the available statistics did not show that services were in as poor a state as the workers described.

Raappana said the figures showed that home care was able to provide services in line with the Social Welfare Act, and that data from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare showed that in some parts of the county clients received more service than they had been granted. She said supervision had not identified a decline in service quality and that sickness absences had decreased, not increased.

Raappana said the main reason for home care sick leave was musculoskeletal conditions. She added that no one was required to work long days and that staff could ask for help from reserve personnel.

Workers and management differ on conditions

The workers said current statistics did not reflect the reality of home care, the demands of the job or clients’ actual needs. Raappana said conditions still varied considerably between parts of the county and that management would investigate the causes of the problems employees reported. She suggested that a lack of communication about recent service development might partly explain the differences in views.

The workers said they were not seeking to blame anyone, but wanted to describe day-to-day conditions. Tikka said they hoped to improve home care in a constructive partnership with service managers and were encouraged that their concerns were being taken seriously.

The statement called for an assessment of whether visit and travel times are sufficient, adequate working time for documentation and assessments, direct-care time targets that reflect the realities of the work, and statutory breaks to be ensured during shifts.