Finland’s top legal watchdog warns elderly care system is failing basic human rights

Eduskunta’s deputy parliamentary ombudsman Maija Sakslin has spent over a decade exposing systemic failures in Finland’s elderly care, warning that cost-cutting measures have eroded fundamental rights and human dignity for the country’s most vulnerable, Yle reports.

In a blunt assessment before her retirement this month, Sakslin described severe deficiencies in care facilities, where understaffing and poorly implemented self-monitoring by welfare regions have led to conditions “that should never occur in a welfare society.” Her remarks follow a series of disturbing deaths in care homes last winter, which staff attributed to chronic underresourcing.

“Unfortunately, we still find places where the care culture does not uphold basic rights or respect human dignity,” Sakslin stated after inspection visits. While acknowledging pockets of high-quality elderly care in Finland, she stressed that services often fail to meet residents’ needs in ways that enable a dignified life.

Sakslin, who has served as deputy ombudsman since 2010, noted that Finland’s public administration generally adheres to laws—but struggles with applying constitutional rights in practice. “Authorities should always choose solutions that best advance fundamental rights. There’s room for improvement,” she said. Though she stopped short of accusing officials of outright abuse of power, she cited “laziness or incompetence” in public roles as unacceptable, adding that Finland’s rule of law “fundamentally works.”

Her office received 7,321 complaints in 2025—the second-highest annual total ever, trailing only the pandemic year 2021. Most concerned social welfare, healthcare, and policing. Sakslin urged Finns to continue reporting grievances, emphasizing that individual complaints can reveal systemic flaws. “It’s incredibly important that people write to us,” she said.

As she prepares to leave office at the end of March—succeeded by Susanna Lindroos-Hovimeimo—Sakslin delivered a final warning to policymakers: over 300,000 Finns aged 65+ lack digital skills, yet authorities increasingly assume digital-only access. “I hope our bureaucracy remembers that many people don’t function in the digital world,” she said, noting her office still receives handwritten complaints about perceived injustices.