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Purchased Services for the Elderly
The Purchased Services for the Elderly Unit puts social services for Helsinki residents out to tender and purchases them from private service providers. The social services purchased by the unit include:
- 24-hour assisted living for the elderly
- 24-hour assisted living for people aged 65 and under with multiple illnesses
- day activities for the elderly
The unit controls and develops service quality and supervises service providers in its operations.
Read more about the quality control of services
The Purchased Services for the Elderly Unit cooperates with its clients’ family members and makes sure that the assisted living services comply with good practice.
Read more about assisted living and 24-hour care
The Purchased Services for the Elderly Unit is also responsible for developing service vouchers, which are payment commitments granted by the City of Helsinki. The unit approves service providers that provide:
- 24-hour assisted living for the elderly
- day activities for the elderly
- home care services
- short-term care in a care unit as part of support for informal care
- services provided at home as part of support for informal care.
Additionally, the unit supervises the operations of service voucher operators providing these services.
The City of Helsinki provides a wide range of 24-hour care services for the elderly. During the contract period 2021–2026, the City of Helsinki supplements the services it provides by purchasing roughly 1,300–2,040 places in assisted living facilities per year.
Assisted living supports and fosters the client’s wellbeing, safety and good quality of life.
24-hour assisted living is comparable to living at home, and the care must emphasise the client’s independence, individuality, dignity and privacy. Home-like conditions mean that the client can spend time together with others and participate in things every day, lead a meaningful life and feel like a part of a warm and safe community. The assisted living facilities’ personnel provide the care with high professional skill in cooperation with the clients and their family members, ensuring the continuity of care.
The service provider is required to commit to developing a stimulating and communal assisted living environment for the client. Additionally, the service provider must promote positive social impacts in its operations, going above and beyond its basic duties.
Additional information for providers of assisted living services
Providers of private social services
The new Act on the Supervision of Health and Social Services, which will enter into force on 1.1.2024, will change the licensing and registration practices of service providers. The current Valveri register will be closed during December, and as of 1 January 2024, notifications of private social services will be submitted electronically in the new Soteri register. With the closure of the Valveri register, the processing of notifications will be transferred from the City of Helsinki and the wellbeing services counties to the Regional State Administrative Agencies and Valvira.
Service providers are requested to submit new notifications of private social services to the City of Helsinki Registrar's office by 10.11.2023.
See the contact details of the City of Helsinki Registrar's Office
Home services for different client groups are social services that require the provider of private home services to submit a notification to the relevant authorities before starting its operations. The service provider must also submit a notification if it intends to materially change or discontinue its operations.
Support services for home services include services such as meal, clothing maintenance, cleaning, bathing and escort services as well as services promoting social interaction.
The City of Helsinki approves the providers of these services and maintains a register of them.
Instructions on how to become a provider of support services for home services (PDF, in Finnish)
Providers of service voucher services
Become a service provider by submitting an application via the palse.fi(Link leads to external service)portal for service voucher services and purchased services (website in Finnish and Swedish only). The rules and instructions for the City of Helsinki Social Services and Health Care Division’s service vouchers are available in the system.
We require all our service providers to belong to the Reliable Partner programme of Vastuu Group.
Current instructions and information for providers of oral healthcare service vouchers (in Finnish)