Palliative care options

When palliative care is arranged for a patient at home, the patient’s family attend to his or her basic needs for food, washing and using the lavatory, and taking medication. Municipal or private home nursing care services are responsible for providing medical treatment. If needed, these will supply assistive devices for home use. In the event of problems, the patient or his or her relatives can phone for advice or to ask for a home visit by a nurse.

Home care requires that a doctor or home nurses draw up a plan of treatment concerning what should be done in different situations. Even patients who are in poor condition can be treated at home.

Information on home nursing services is available from health centres, nursing homes and local cancer associations.

Outpatient nursing is arranged at nursing homes as a back up to hone care. Patients are usually taken to a day hospital for one day each week to meet other patients and receive the necessary treatment and help with their symptoms. This gives the patient a day off, or, if they wish, they can visit the day hospital to confer with a doctor and nursing staff.

If caring for a sick relative proves too difficult for the family or is not possible to arrange, it is necessary to consider treatment in a health centre or hospital ward or in a nursing home. This is often the case when there are problems with movement or washing and an increase in symptoms. Further information about the treatment available in health centre or hospital wards can be obtained from the doctor in charge of the patient’s treatment.

There are four nursing homes in Finland: Terhokoti in Helsinki, Karinakoti in Turku, Pirkamaa Nursing Home in Tampere, and Koivikko Nursing Home in Hämeenlinna. These also have home nursing and day hospital services. Care in a nursing home requires a doctor’s referral and a payment remittance by the municipality or as a private patient.