Authors

• Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health (STKL)

Keywords

Social Insurance Institution, employment services, medical centres, organizations, personnel, public sector, qualifications, resources, social services, social welfare, social workers, voluntary organizations, welfare

Abstract

The survey charted expert opinion on the welfare of Finnish citizens and present state of welfare services. Respondents were managers or management groups of municipal social services, medical centres, employment offices, social and health organisations or local offices of the Social Insurance Institution. Respondents evaluated the welfare of various population groups and rated the importance of different bodies (e.g. family or congregation) in providing welfare at the time of the survey and in the future. They were asked about the direction of quantitative changes of different forms of service and whether services were reorganised and why and how it was being done. The importance of voluntary organisations in developing services of the organisation was probed. Respondents assessed municipal social services, public health services, services of the Social Insurance Institution and labour administration, and social and health services provided by private enterprises and voluntary organisations from the point of view of citizens who use them and of the functionality of co-operation with the organisation. They were also asked to evaluate how their own sector could provide municipal services with present resources.

The survey charted the changes in personnel numbers from the year 2002 to 2003. Opinions on the sufficiency of human resources, working conditions and organisation's ability to improve occupational competence of its personnel were examined. Views on the aspects that management was concerned about and satisfied with were probed. Respondents evaluated the socio-economic situation of their municipality and sector.

Respondents in the social services were asked whether their municipality has an arrangement with voluntary organisations to provide services regionally and whether citizens have to wait for social services. In addition, they assessed the economic situation of the municipality, how that might change from the year 2002 to 2003 and the occurrence of deliberate underbudgeting. It was also charted how many social workers the municipality has, how many of them are qualified, and if there are not enough qualified social workers, what strategies have been used to solve the situation. It was studied how social services administration has been arranged and what kind of titles and educational backgrounds chief officials of social services have.

Respondents in local offices of Social Insurance Institution and in employment offices were asked how their organisation could provide services with present resources. Respondents in medical centres were asked whether citizens have to wait for health services and what strategies have been used to solve the lack of personnel.

Respondents in voluntary organisations assessed the focus and regional emphasis of their activities and the centrality of different forms of activities at the time of the survey and in the future. They were also asked about the total budget, overall economic situation and importance of different sources of funding in the organisation. The survey charted the importance of different measures voluntary organisations take to evaluate the situation of their target groups. It also examined the importance of the public sector and voluntary organisations in, for example, securing income and providing services. Respondents were asked about their organisation's participation in providing regional services with local governments and co-operating with centres of expertise on social welfare and the role of volunteers.

Background variables included respondent's organisation and occupational status and location of organisation.