Nursing and care services 2011

IPLOS is a register with individual encrypted information about all recipients of care in Norwegian municipalities. Since 2007 this has been the main data source for the Norwegian nursing and care statistics.

The number of recipients of nursing and care has increased by more then 6 percent during the period 2007-2011. There has been no major change in the distribution by age, sex or need for assistance among the recipients. The recipients of long-term care in institutions, have the highest percentage with extensive need for assistance. Recipients of home nursing and home help with extensive need for assistance, have been given an increasing number of hours of assistance per week. It appears that the municipalities to an increasing extent give a lot of help to recipients with most extensive needs.

Younger recipients of home based care, (younger than 67 years), receive more hours of help per week than older recipients. The explanation for this is that older persons with extensive needs to a large extent get help in a long term institution, while the policy is to avoid institutionalisation of younger persons with extensive needs, and assist them in their own homes as much as possible.