Estonia stops dispatching police to assist elderly people after falls at home
In Estonia, from September 1, the Emergency Response Centre no longer dispatches police officers to elderly people who have fallen at home and cannot get up on their own. Instead, dispatchers must decide whether to send an ambulance crew or a local social service worker, ERR News reports.
Concerns from local authorities
Estonia’s Ministry of Social Affairs and local governments criticized the new procedure. Veiko Luhalaid, head of the Association of Estonian Cities and Municipalities, noted that local governments do not operate around the clock. According to him, many of them have no service vehicles or staff on duty to respond to such calls on weekends.
Luhalaid also pointed out that a social worker has no right to forcibly enter a home if the door is locked. In that case, the Emergency Response Centre would have to be called again.
Hanna Vseviov, deputy secretary general of the Ministry of Social Affairs, said that the ministry does not consider this decision reasonable. In her view, assistance cannot be discontinued in one system until an acceptable alternative has been created in another.
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Searching for an alternative to police
Over the past year, police officers helped 600 people in such situations. The Ministries of Social Affairs and Interior agreed about a year and a half ago to find a way to relieve police of this duty, but they have still not agreed on how exactly to organize a replacement.
Tuuli Räim, deputy secretary general of the Ministry of the Interior, said that an analysis completed in May did not offer a solution as to who should help elderly people going forward. She rejected claims that the decision had been made suddenly and said that the search for options had continued throughout the year.
In Narva, a pilot project involving community welfare workers has been operating for six months; residents and police can call them. Vitali Slepnyov, a service worker, said that the difficulty of providing assistance depends on where the person fell and on their weight, while on average it takes 15 minutes to help them get up.
