Surprise visits to old-age care homes revealed a variety of shortcomings, including communication problems among caregivers and residents.
The Supervisory Agency has issued a stern warning about potential risks in old-age care due to some caregivers’ poor Finnish language skills.
The new ‘super-agency’ said on Wednesday that it had found deficiencies in the linguistic skills of personnel during unannounced inspection visits to 24-hour care units this spring.
The surprise visits were “made to sites selected on a risk basis,” the agency said.
Inspectors also found “shortcomings in operating practices related to the recognition of clients’ right to self-determination and restrictive measures,” it said in a press release.
The authority pointed out that staffing levels have been categorically reduced to the bare legal minimum of 0.6 employees per client, even though by law, staffing must meet the needs of client services.
The spot checks turned up problems with the skills, orientation and language skills of old-age home staff members, according to Niina Oresmaa, head of the agency’s social and health affairs department.
“Finnish-speaking nurses are unsure whether foreign-language nurses understand the instructions given and, according to what they say, they had to provide a lot of support in carrying out their work tasks,” Oresmaa said in the press release.
She noted that in some cases, employees resort to using translator apps to be understood, even in interactions with patients and residents.
“A lack of language skills may increase the risk of compromising customer and patient safety, especially in services for people with memory problems,” Oresmaa said.
“Broader control measures” on the way
“We will initiate broader control measures targeting wellbeing services counties based on the preliminary findings made during these inspections,” she added.
In 2023, more than 2,000 foreign health and social-care workers received residence permits to work in Finland, but that number has plummeted in the past couple of years.
The Finnish Supervisory Agency is a ‘mega-agency’ that started up at the beginning of this year. It consolidates an array of older bodies, including the national welfare and health watchdog Valvira and the regional ELY Centres, which oversaw economic development, transport and the environment.
