Institutional care for older persons

In Finland, the aim is to help all older people to go on living at home or in a home-like environment for as long as they can. Institutional care is provided in homes for the aged and inpatient wards at health centres, if necessary. Institutional care for older people is either short-term rehabilitating care or long-term care.
 
Short-term institutional care aims to help the older person to cope at home and/or to support a family member who cares for the older person. The purpose of short-term institutional care is to prevent the need for permanent institutional care.
 
Long-term institutional care is only applicable only if the decision is supported by medical grounds or grounds related to customer safety or patient security.
 
In short-term institutional care, a fee is usually charged for each day spent in care. The maximum fee for long-term institutional care is 85 per cent of the client`s monthly income. If the client`s income is higher than his or her spouse`s income,  the fee is determined on the basis of the combined monthly income of the spouses.