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Government reaches budget agreement on elderly

Christian Wenande
December 5th, 2018


This article is more than 6 years old.

Tackling loneliness and recruitment issues among the central points

Lending them a hand or two (photo: Pixabay)

More details have emerged regarding the 2019 budget agreement that apply to the elderly sector, which the government reached an accord over with Dansk Folkeparti (DF) on November 30.

In total, 650 million kroner has been set aside for the elderly in 2019 for a wide range of initiatives, including tackling loneliness, issues pertaining to recruitment of health workers for the elderly sector and better nourishment.

“I’m really pleased about the budget agreement we have reached with DF. It’s an agreement that significantly strengthens the conditions for pensioners, but also the vulnerable and lonely elderly,” said the elderly minister, Thyra Frank.

“Our elderly deserve a golden age in which they can be sure they are getting the right care and treatment, so it’s important that we attract more people to take a social and health education.”

Frank said that the agreement promoted better internship guidance in educations and campaigns that can raise awareness of the exciting work available within elderly care.

READ MORE: Elderly people often clueless about first aid, study shows

Let’s be Frank
The deal stipulates that 400 million kroner will be earmarked over the next four years to municipal action against loneliness, the loss of the will to live, grief and suicide.

An additional 150 kroner has been set aside over the next four years for initiatives dedicated to boosting the recruitment of careworkers.

A further 60 million will go to an action plan aimed at making it safer to work in the elderly sector – research shows that elderly workers often face reactionary behaviour in citizens struggling with dementia.

Finally, 45 million kroner will go to initiatives aimed at developing quality indicators of the elderly sector and efforts tackling unplanned weight loss and undernourishment.


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”