There have been considerable reductions in institutional care for older people in Sweden, driven by cost containment measures and by an ‘ageing in place’ policy. Accordingly, an increasing proportion and number of frail older persons with complex health problems are now dependent on help in their own homes. In spite of this, many persons will end their lives in an institution.
Until recently, there have been few possibilities for carrying out individual-level, population-based studies of older persons’ length of stay in institutional care. Using the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care (SNAC) study, comprising all persons in an urban district who have moved into an institution between 2006 and 2012, we are now able to analyse whether older persons’ length of stay in institutions has changed in recent years.
We have found a general decrease in the length of stay over the period studied. The most dramatic change was a rapid increase in the proportion of persons who moved into institutional care and died shortly afterwards.
Our findings suggest that a restructuring of the whole eldercare system, especially the role and function of institutional care, is required in order to better target the needs of very frail older persons in their final stage of life.
Publication
Rapid decrease in length of stay in institutional care for older people in Sweden between 2006 and 2012: results from a population-based study
Pär Schön, Mårten Lagergren, Ingemar Kåreholt
Health Soc Care Community, first published online 5 May 2015,  DOI: 10.1111/hsc.12237