In 2020, Finland will be home to Europe’s oldest population. The increasing numbers of elderly people across the country has led to a growth in demand for home care services – including assistance with housekeeping and food preparation, as well as providing companionship for individuals living alone.
The growing pressure to increase services, personnel and resources for home care has created a need for new service innovations. To ensure adequate provision of these services, a multipurpose model is required, in addition to wide cooperation between service providers.
Posti is well-placed to form part of this solution. It reaches 2.8m households every weekday, meaning that it can provide various kinds of assistance in the home, even to those living in the most remote and sparsely populated areas of Finland.
Furthermore, by providing combined postal and care services, Posti is providing a more cost-efficient solution for Finland’s municipalities, while providing the flexibility and choice necessary to ensure the customer’s individual needs are fully taken into account.
Throughout 2017, Posti has tested this multipurpose model with the City of Kuopio. The trial, which has been highly successful and has involved Posti employees helping elderly people across the city with household tasks and personal care. All employees involved in this work have completed specialised training provided by Posti and the local government.
Posti expects home services to become an important growth area for the company in the coming years, an expectation underlined by Posti’s acquisition of home care service provider HR-Hoiva Oy in January 2017.