Private providers accounted for more than half of all new production of nursing homes in Sweden and Finland in recent years. Attendo alone has provided more than one out of five new nursing home beds since 2008.
Establishment of a new care home leads to several positive impacts on society in addition to the care delivered. A home with about 60 apartments creates more than 50 jobs once up and running as well as more than 30 annual jobs during the building phase.
When Attendo continuously builds new facilities, the company also supports local authorities with expertise in nursing home establishment, from the identification of suitable land, the building contractor and investors to staff recruitment and moving in of residents.
The high opening rate in the late 2010s combined with lower intake during the Covid-19 pandemic have led to significant occupancy problems, with many vacant beds in Attendo’s total availability. The opening rate remained at a low level in 2021 and few new projects were initiated. The intention is to maintain a more sustainable opening rate for new homes in the next few years.
A total of 832 new beds were opened in Attendo’s local units in 2021, the majority in Scandinavia. Occupancy of vacant beds rose successively in Finland during the year, while Scandinavia saw a more distinct return flow of customers in the second half of the year, after the pandemic. At the end of the year, Attendo had a total of 29,300 customers, up by 4.3 percent compared to the preceding year.
Addressing complex care and health care challenges
Attendo helps local authorities and regions address complex care and health care challenges. The services we provide include care for individuals with multiple diagnoses and individuals with multiple disabilities or especially complex diagnoses, such as Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
In the area of individual and family care, we are helping local authorities create qualified care and good lives for young people with a range of needs, by recruiting and certifying family care homes, for example. Tjust Behandlingsfamiljer, which provides foster home operations combined with therapy was added during 2021.
Attendo has strong expertise in several aspects of care for people with disabilities. We have, for example, established two of only three care homes in Sweden that specialise in Prader-Willi Syndrome, whose main effect is uncontrollable appetite.
We offer meaningful activities for people with mental health impairments and work actively to match individuals enrolled in daily activities programmes with work opportunities.
In Finland, we are helping to secure access to care in many small communities. Many local authorities choose to partner with Attendo because it helps promote new methods and quality improvement in care. At the same time, this gives municipalities a clear view of their own costs, which leads to more efficient use of tax funds.
Innovations for better care
Attendo is working determinedly to use new technologies to improve the care experience for our customers and free up more time for customer-facing care services. For several years, we have led the effort to develop methods that lead to better care at less cost to the public.
Several new projects were initiated in 2021 to find more efficient methods of delivering care. Attendo Scandinavia tested an automated drug dispenser in home care operations in Norrtälje in autumn 2021, which freed up time for other services and improved safety for the individual.
Also during the year, Attendo tested new technologies for night supervision of customers at several local units, reducing the need for physical visits. The new technology allows night staff to make “virtual visits” without having to disturb the customer. Evaluations show that customers feel less worry and that they sleep better when they are not unnecessarily disturbed by nightly visits. Meanwhile, the reduced need for night staff for supervision frees up resources for other care work.