Developments in home help for elderly people in Denmark: the changing concept of home and institution

The official figures on provision of home help in Denmark are compromised in that they include figures for help delivered to people living in assisted-living dwellings, facilities that were formerly considered nursing homes. Furthermore, many municipalities have integrated home help and nursing-home care and report this as home help. This article examines the effect of these administrative arrangements on the provision of home help and the distribution of home help in terms of hours per week. There has been a polarisation in size of care packages: a smaller group of recipients composed largely of people residing in assisted-living dwellings receive larger care packages, whereas the care packages to people living in their own dwellings have decreased in size. However, a sleight of hand of definitions regarding the concept of home has made the official figures on provision of home help look even more generous than they are.