Funding crisis forces special care homes to close

Several special care homes in Estonia are planning to close because state funding does not cover their actual costs, ERR reported. Nearly 2,000 people are waiting for places, while demonstrators gathered in Toompea to demand money from the state budget for services needed by people with severe psychiatric disorders or intellectual disabilities.

Silja Tee, who lives in Harju County, makes a five-hour bus journey to the Latvian border once a month to visit her 17-year-old son. Her son, who has an intellectual disability and autism, has been in substitute care for five years and is currently 23rd on the waiting list for a round-the-clock service for autistic people.

“Even if he were far away and the service were excellent, I would accept that. But unfortunately, there is a shortage of staff, and as a result he is suffering,” Tee said.

Special care services are needed by people with psychiatric disorders and intellectual disabilities so that their relatives can go to work.

Triinu Õispuu, who provides the service in southern Estonia, said it had been underfunded for years. The state pays providers 60 percent or slightly more of the cost, she said, leaving them unable to provide a quality service or pay staff adequately.

In southern Estonia, a care worker who works 24-hour shifts earns 1,300 euros a month after taxes. The low pay is driving trained workers to leave the profession.

“We are in a crisis. We do not have enough money to provide sufficient special care services. Since there is no money in the state budget to fund these places, no new places are being created and people remain on long waiting lists,” said Maarjo Mändmaa, deputy secretary general at the Ministry of Social Affairs.

The homes vary in size, from small facilities with about 30 residents to larger ones with around 100. Several providers are planning to shut their doors, further reducing the number of available places.

Special care services need nearly 200 million euros over four years. Social Affairs Minister Karmen Joller said she would request additional funding, while acknowledging that the state budget is deeply in deficit and public debt is rising.

If the government does not find the money, the state will still have to find four million euros, Mändmaa said. That is the estimated cost of potential court cases brought by relatives of people on the waiting list who demand care home places through the courts.