Many elderly people are dependent for their security and opportunities of active living on the supply of caring staff, which diminished during the period. In individual and family care , both national qualitative targets and a basis of qualitative evaluation are extensively lacking. The National Board of Health and Welfare has begun work on defining national quality indicators for work in individual and family caring services. It is hard to tell whether, and if so how, the modified steering systems have affected the quality of social service activities. Nor is there any straightforward connection between expenditure and quality.
Additional resources are no guarantee of higher quality.
At the same time, good quality can be hard to maintain if needs outstrip the resources allocated. Reduced resources can mean a risk of inferior quality in the longer term, unless they are combined with new working methods and properly thought-out quality assurance. Management response to questions of quality is critical. Distinct qualitative targets and performance requirements have to be formulated and followed up and an assessment made of the results achieved. It is important that performance criteria reflecting the quality of activities should be disseminated and compared, for the encouragement of qualitative improvements.