Support services for informal carers of a person över 65 years

The city provides several options for arranging the statutory vacations of support for informal care. In addition, other recreational vacations can be arranged for families giving informal care.

Informal carers are given support through various services
- Activity centres of informal care: four regional locations
- Day activities
- Short-term care
- Daily part time care
- Home help service for informal care (mainly for customers aged over 65 years) at most 8 hours per month, 1 to 4 hours at a time.
- Child minding services for children with special needs (under the age of 16)

Ways to arrange the care during the carer's statutory vacation:
- short-term care in the city's units or in purchased service units
- service voucher for short-term care for the service providers' units, approved as service voucher companies
- substitute carers. The carer can suggest a relative or another person who is close to the care receiver as the substitute carer. The eligibility of the substitute carer is assessed, based on the same requirements as the primary carer.
- part time care
- day activities
- services purchased for home to assist the carer

Services are applied for via the Social and Local Work Centres of the customer's region and from the social workers of support for informal care at the Social Work Unit of the disabled.

Prerequisites:

A carer receiving support for informal care is entitled to, at least, three days of leave for any calendar month, during which the carer is bound continuously or with only minor interruptions (not exceeding five days) to provide around-the-clock or continuous daily care.

The service is only for citizens of Helsinki.