SuPer’s Inberg: Minimum staffing ratio for elder care services must be raised to 0.7
SuPer is calling for the statutory minimum staffing ratio for 24-hour service housing for older people to be raised to 0.7, as the current level of 0.6 is not enough to ensure humane care everywhere.
During the previous government term, a decision was made to raise the minimum ratio gradually to 0.7, but the current government reversed the decision.
“An excessively low minimum staffing level has caused major problems in services for older people. Although actual staffing levels should be based on clients’ care needs, some employers only comply with the minimum staffing ratio,” says Päivi Inberg, President of SuPer.
Since autumn 2025, SuPer’s experts have been touring 24-hour care units for older people in the wellbeing services counties. The visits have revealed that many units have not hired enough trained care staff, and this is reflected in their operations.
Although the minimum staffing ratio is laid down in law, the actual staffing requirements of a unit are always determined by the care needs of its clients. The greater the number of clients who require extensive assistance, the greater the need for staff.
“Unfortunately, an adequate staffing ratio based on care needs is not achieved everywhere. There are good units, but far too many employers treat the minimum staffing ratio as the maximum in practice. In many units, the focus is on ensuring that the minimum staffing ratio is not exceeded. Instead, they should ensure that the minimum staffing ratio is never undercut and that staffing is always at a sufficiently high level,” says Inberg.
“Practical nurses are also being assigned an increasing amount of indirect work, even though they should be able to focus on actual client work,” Inberg points out. “Units must always have sufficient numbers of both trained care staff and support staff.”
“Insufficient staffing undermines the reliability of care and places a strain on both clients and care staff. There is a lack of consistent, nationally binding and comparable quality targets and indicators for assessing the provision of 24-hour service housing for older people,” says Inberg.
Inberg points out that staff shortages are not limited to 24-hour service housing. Home care services are also struggling with time pressure and too few staff.
“Labour is currently available, so a shortage of workforce is not preventing the situation from being corrected. What matters is political will – or the lack of it.”
Published in English 12.5.2026.
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