ARE THERE DIFFERENCES IN STANDARD OF CARE FOR THE ELDERLY - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF ASSISTANCE DECISIONS IN STOCKHOLM

According to Swedish law, an elderly dependent person is entitled to p ublic services in the form of home help in ordinary housing or a place in special housing - i.e. sheltered housing, a residential home or a nursing home. There are no explicit rules for how much home help a per son is entitled to given dependency and other factors, nor are there a ny explicit criteria to guide the admission to special housing. A stud y was performed in ten districts in Stockholm in order to determine wh ether there were systematic differences between the districts with reg ard to the allotment of care and services to the elderly. It was found that there were in fact significant differences that could not be exp lained by variations in dependency or other factors of importance for the allotment decision. A minor part of these differences was connecte d to the different background and experience of the assessing person.