LEGISLATION

PRIVATE SECTOR

PUBLIC SECTOR

THIRD SECTOR

ETHICS AND METHODS

SOCIAL ISSUES AND DILEMMAS

COMMUNITY WORK

LEGISLATION• The fundamental value under the Finnish Constitution

guarantees the right to a good treatment, informed choices, dignity, security and care recipient involvement – Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, 2008

• Qualification and certification of workforce “Social welfare law is the most important law in

my work.”

- Pirjo Peltonen, Roihuvuori

” All encompassing care of elderly

including pharmalogical

treatment, nursing, rehabilitation and palliative care.”

- Marja Tammisto, Onnitalo

TEAM

Doctors Nurses

Social counsellor / instructor Occupational therapist

Physiotherapist Demobilization nurse  Other social workers

InstructorsHome care employees

These professionals work very closely together as a team to reach their objectives

“It’s a natural thing to do social work because it  gives a wide area to

work.”

– Birgitta Tirkkonen, Itäkeskus

• National Curriculum for long-term care workers• Regulation and Inspections • Long-term care providers

”More and more sick elderly are treated at home with

the help of home care and from the hospitals

they send sick elder people back at their homes because

there are no resources.”

- Pirjo Peltonen, Roihuvuori

• Role of Municipalities (342): Arrange, provide, purchase and sensitize about available health and long-term care (LTC) services for their residents

“Social worker also tries to assemble a necessary network

to support the acculture (service user going back

home.”

- Pirjo Peltonen, Roihuvuori

Public sector

• Publicly funded healthcare as in taxation, designed to meet the cost of all or most healthcare needs from a publicly managed fund

• Municipalities are responsible for organising social welfare and health care

• Public healthcare is available to all permanent residents in Finland, regardless of their financial situation

• Health care services are provided by municipal health centers and district hospitals

• Roihuvuori Diverse Service Centre business idea is that everybody gets equally good health care

• Different kind of services for over 75 years old

“

“Service users come mainly from

hospitals or home for an evaluation and

rehabilitation period, sometimes they

come for crisis places. The main goal of

the treatment period is that the service

user could afterwards still return home.”

- Pirjo Peltonen, Roihuvuori

“Social worker works with multi-professional network, next of kin (immediate family) and cooperation

partners. My job is to evaluate the need of services used by the service user and arrange different kind of

services. For example by finding a long-term placement.”

- Pirjo, Peltonen, Roihuvuori“The closest and most important cooperation

partners are the doctors, nurses, social counsellors, occupational therapist and other

staff members in the work community. Otherwise and when there is a doubt that the

service user might be economically, physically or mentally mistreated.”

- Pirjo Peltonen, Roihuvuori

Private sector• The private sector is managed by foundations,

associations or enterprises and is not controlled by the government.

• Private health services supplement public services and they can sell their services for municipalities or directly to clients.

• Quarter of all social and health services• Service accommodation is one of the most usual

services

“More than 70% of the staff that works in care taking have experienced violence or felt threatened. The

continuous rush, insufficient brakes, staff resources and grey overtime work are big work safety hazards.”

(Helsingin Uutiset, 2016).

“Our resources are cut all the time. The work itself is hard mentally and when pay is low, people get sick, the motivation for the work lowers. At the same time, they send sick old people back home because there are no resources. The situation is unsustainable.”- Marja Tammisto, Onnitalo

” All encompassing care of elderly

includes pharma logical treatment,

nursing, rehabilitation and palliative care.”

 - Marja Tammisto,

Onnitalo” More activities and day trips for

the elderly so they could visit other

places rather than institutes and

they could meet other people.”

- Marja Tammisto, Onnitalo

Third sector• Sometimes described as voluntary

sector, third sector is managed by organizations

• It’s a social sector that does not aim to profit

• Usually pursues the organizations or groups social goals

• They get their funding on public donations or on grant arrangements

• Eläkkeensaajien keskusliitto: second largest retirement organization in Finland

Organizations highlight things

like being together, recreation,

peer support and experience.

They get their funding

mainly from RAY

(Finland's Slot Machine

Association).”

 - Tarja Pajunen, EKL

“Elderly people should be

activated, pension

organizations actions should be

supported, we should invest

more in rehabilitation and

investigations of memory ill. We

should have a caregiver

legislation.”

-Tarja Pajunen, EKL

” The goal of the union is to strengthen the position and rights of the pensioner, and especially influence on the

retirement allowance poverty.” 

“We want to raise national pensions by different means like index check-ups and pension income taxation should not be

harsher than salary income. Elderly persons should be heard. There is a lot to improve in the services and the

service charges should be reasonable.” 

- Tarja Pajunen, EKL

”Our most important partners are the multiprofessional teams who work closely together in order to reach the wanted result with a client.”

BirgittaTirkkonen, Itäkeskus

The relationship between the

service user and worker is not

a private one and may include members of the

team and other health care professionals and service

providers.

“You have to be diplomatic. While working with residents and their relatives, you need to have your antennas on and inquire what would be the best way of proceeding to the best solution where everybody would be as happy as possible.”

– Birgitta Tirkkonen, Itäkeskus

The social worker has to keep in mind the needs and the interests of other people as well as the service user

“Among other things, the social worker evaluates the need of services used by the service user and arranges different kind of services. Social worker also tries to assemble a necessary network to support the service user who is returning home.”

- Pirjo Peltonen, Roihuvuori

He/she has the duty to distribute the

resources of the agency fairly between

individual service users and to manage

them efficently

METHODS

• Main goal of social work is to look for the best possible wellbeing for the people, groups and communities.

• The other knowledge • Personal growth• Empowering• Self-determination

WHAT KIND OF COMPETENCES?

• Diplomacy• Listening• Patience• Open mindless• Seeing things from different

views

Number of elderly people is going to grow rapidly in following years. We asked from the social workers what things are probably going to change in the future.

• Elderly people from different cultures

• Worry about the economical situation and how they affect

• Condition of the residents which has gone worse all the time

FUTURE OF ELDERLY WORK?

“I have been thinking one day at

a time, let´s see what happens.

These people need to be taken care of

anyway.”  

- Birgitta Tirkkonen, Itäkeskus“I´m trustful that there comes this voice of sense

somewhere, since there is going to be a big amount of older people and we just

need to take care of them no matter

what.”

 - Birgitta Tirkkonen, Itäkeskus

CHALLENGES

“Sometimes it needs a lot of balancing between situations

and ask consultation from doctors or supervisors what there is to do”

Birgitta Tirkkonen, Itäkeskus

“Also if the person thinks that they don’t need a trustee or help even though it clearly is for their

own good.”

“There can be issues like refusing on taking medication or treatment of wounds. Then we have to think really carefully

what to do because if the patients aren’t treated, their

health condition is going to get worse.”

“Same thing goes also with the resident who

needs a trustee, like example in a

case where person cannot take care

of own money situation and there is no relatives who

could handle money issues or

give help”

 Social issues        

• Have significant impacts• Loneliness • Frustrations • Social isolation • Inability to continue to work • Boredom• Financial stresses • Inability to independently manage regular

activities of living

“ In situation like these it is important to have the help within

the work community.

The work can be mentally really hard, it really depends on the day and how is the service user feeling

that day.”

- Pirjo Peltonen, Roihuvuori

The low versus human rights 

Stereotyping

Ageism

Useless

Discrimination

Different

”I want to create sense of

community, reduce feelings of

loneliness and bring quality to the

life in facility.”

–BirgittaTirkkonen, Itäkeskus

•           Educate society regarding elderly •           Needs•           Desires•           Hope•           Future•           Ambitions•           Legacy 

Social services - advocate BENEFICENCE / NON-MALEFICENCE

“ The elderly were once young, and they have the same needs and

desires as we all have.”

- Birgitta, ItäkeskusDO GOOD

COMMUNITY WORK WITH ELDERLY PEOPLE

“I love to listen to them, to their stories to their past”

- BirgittaTirkkonen, Itäkeskus

They seek to empower people

to become subjects rather than objects in

their lives

Representation, Acting and

arguing for the interests of their

clients

REFERENCES• Social - and health ministry, www.stm.fi • www.kunnat.net• www.finlex.fi• www.soste.fi• Roihuvuori Diverse Service Center, http://www.hel.fi. Pirjo Peltonen, social worker. 2016.• Onnitalo, www.onnitalo.fi, Marja Tammisto, director of the service house. 2016.• Helsingin Sanomat, Vasantola Satu, 20.10.2016. http://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/a1476854021669• Eläkkeensaajien keskusliitto, www.elakkeensaajat.fi, Tarja Pajunen, sociopolitical adviser. 2016.• Itäkeskus Service Center, http://www.hel.fi. Birgitta Tirkkonen, social worker. 2016.• OECD Questionnaire on Long-term Care Quality (2012). OECD Health Data 2012.• Country Note (June 2013): Finland - A Good Life in Old Age © OECD/European Commission.• https://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Finland-OECD-EC-Good-Time-in-Old-Age.pdf • Juhila (2012), sosiaalityöntekijöinä ja asiakkaina, 106• https://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Finland-OECD-EC-Good-Time-in-Old-Age.pdf • Crisp, Beth (2016), “Contemporary Social Work Studies: Spirituality and Social Work”, Farnham:

Ashgate. http://ocw.jhsph.edu/courses/agingpopulations/pdfs/lecture14.pdf • Banks, Sara (2012) ”Ethics and Values in social work, third edition,Palgrave McMillan • Payne Malcom (2015) Modern Social Work Theory, third edition,Palgrave McMillan (295-315)