In Estonia, police will temporarily continue helping elderly people after falls at home
In Estonia, the Ministry of the Interior will temporarily maintain police assistance for elderly people who have fallen in their homes outside working hours. Previously, the ministry planned to transfer such calls to ambulance crews and local government social workers. This was reported by ERR News.
Assistance outside working hours
Under the new temporary arrangement, during working hours—from Monday to Friday, from 09:00 to 17:00—assistance will be organized by local authorities. Outside these hours, state emergency services will continue responding to calls: ambulances, police, or rescuers.
From September 1, it had been envisaged that elderly people who fell at home would be assisted by medical personnel and municipal social workers. This decision came as a surprise to local governments and the Ministry of Social Affairs, which stated that they could not fully assume the relevant responsibility.
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Reasons for the change in approach
Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of the Interior Tuuli Räim explained that the initial decision was due to limited resources and an excessive workload on the police. According to her, involving patrols in calls of a social nature may make it more difficult for them to arrive where they are needed to carry out police functions.
Räim also noted that police officers are not the primary resource for assessing a person's health condition, and an armed patrol should not automatically be the first to arrive at such calls. She stressed that the search for a permanent solution should involve the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Regional Affairs, and the Association of Cities and Municipalities.
The association's chairman, Veikko Luhalaid, drew attention to problems with the protection of personal and medical data, the inability to ensure round-the-clock duty by social workers in all municipalities, and their lack of authority to forcibly open the doors of homes. An analysis showed that nearly 40% of falls were repeat cases: police repeatedly came to the same people to help them get back on their feet.
