Malmö Replaces Home Care Visits with Video Calls

The city of Malmö has started replacing some home care visits with video calls on a tablet. The municipality says this makes elderly residents feel safer and frees up staff, but in the city’s own risk analysis there is a warning that loneliness may increase as physical visits become less frequent.

The trial began on September 28 and will run until March next year. Seven home care groups are participating, including in Limhamn. It mainly concerns visits where staff come to the elderly person’s home for a chat, to check in before or after a shower, or to make sure he or she has come home from a walk. Now, such visits can instead take place via a screen.

A few days before the first digital visit, staff come to the home with the tablet and show how it works. The home care service first assesses which elderly individuals are suitable for screen visits, and then the staff and the pensioner together decide which visits will be replaced.

Assistant nurse Sofie Bjelkne, who is one of those testing the new way of working, sees the screen as a way to help the elderly manage more on their own.

On Malmö city’s website, she explains that staff currently visit some people just to make sure they take their medication or to heat simple meals.

“Things they can actually do themselves. With a digital call, it becomes easier to encourage independence,” she says.

Her colleague, Anabel Martin, talks about a man who gets help with training but prefers not to have staff at his home. Via the screen, they can still show him how to exercise. Project manager Gunilla Larsén says that it’s about finding more ways to connect, in addition to regular visits.

The Municipality Recognizes the Risks

Behind the positive words lies a much more cautious picture. In its risk analysis, the city of Malmö points out that the technology could malfunction so that visits never take place, and that a reduction in social support may make elderly residents feel more lonely.

The municipality’s reasoning is that screen visits should free up time for efforts that require staff to be physically present, as more and more elderly people need home care. For some pensioners, this means in practice fewer visits and, ultimately, a risk of loneliness.

The neighboring municipality Lund became the first in the country in 2023 to introduce voluntary digital home care, and the approach is now permanent there. The service is staffed between 7 am and 10 pm, and about 90 of the municipality’s more than 1,600 home care clients use it. A study at Lund University is following the work and is expected to be completed next year.