About Early Intervention

Increasing numbers of older and younger people in need of assistance are creating strong pressure on local care services. The applications come directly from those who apply for assistance, or via relatives, GPs or hospitals. They are then assessed by the municipality's allocation office before a decision is made on approval or refusal.

Some municipalities have tried out new models with their own interdisciplinary assessment teams with early intervention before decisions are made.

In this project, we will compare the traditional and the new ways of proceeding to assess the need and allocate services. We will do research on the financial consequences for the municipalities, the consequences for the applicants and their relatives and the consequences for the employees. In addition, we will compare the models for the assessment and allocation of services in the Nordic countries. Are some service delivery models more promising than others?

The project is therefore about the gateway to the large care services in the municipalities, about the early interventions and efforts and about models for allocation of services. The entrance gate constitutes a particularly important and critical phase both for the users and the municipalities. This phase has not been much studied.

Researchers at HVL, NORCE, NTNU, FHI, VID, Roskilde University, Umeå University and University of Jyväskylä participate. Bergen, Askøy, Kvam and Oslo municipalities collaborate on the implementation of the research. Other important partners are KS, the USHTs in Oslo and Hordaland, the councils for the elderly in Oslo and Bergen, as well as the Council for Persons with Disabilities in Oslo.

The aim is to gain more knowledge about the entrance gate, and that this can benefit the users and the municipalities.