Tórshavn reintroduces dedicated care teams after 11 years of individual assignments

The municipality of Tórshavn is reinstating dedicated care teams in its health and social services department after 11 years of operating with individual assignments, citing demographic shifts and increased workload demands, reports Kringvarp Føroya.

Since 2015, when responsibility for elderly care was transferred from the national to the municipal level, the number of residents aged 80 or older in Tórshavn has risen significantly. In 2015, there were 760 people in this age group; by last year, the number had grown to 1,059. Projections indicate this figure will reach 1,618 by 2035.

The current system of individual assignments—introduced in 2014 to replace team-based care—has faced criticism. Staff have reported that individual assignments often place them far from their designated work units, a concern highlighted in a 2022 workplace satisfaction survey. The municipality acknowledges that while the system has worked well in terms of financial oversight and service distribution, workload pressures have intensified.

Tórshavn’s health and social services currently provide 244 residential care places for the elderly. The last structural changes to the system were made in 2014.