Då äldreomsorgen inte räcker till : Om rutiner för arbetet med missbrukare inom äldreomsorgen

Sammanfattning: In recent years alcohol consumption among the elderly population in Sweden has risen. While cooperation between elder care organisations and addiction and substance abuse organisations among individual municipalities has increased, only a fifth of Swedish municipalities have revised guidelines directed toward elder care, describing how social workers are supposed to process this part of the elder population. Meanwhile, New Public Management has caused a fragmentation in social work where organisations have an increased focus on their own areas of responsibility as well as standardised aid increasing the risk of clients not getting the aid they may need. The purpose of this mixed methods study is to understand how social workers within elder care are expected to work with elders who abuse or engage in risk-filled use of alcohol. In order to accomplish this we have chosen to study guidelines for social workers specialised in elder care. The documents are developed by 30 different municipalities found through Socialstyrelsens “Öppna Jämförelser 2021” and in addition to these guidelines, the study also aims to analyse a survey directed toward social workers in the same municipalities in order to generalise the results. In conclusion, New Public Management has provided Swedish social services with specialised social workers. Working from different offices within a municipality creates cause for cooperation to which, in some municipalities, there are not sufficient guidelines describing clear proceedings when it comes to processing elders with addiction or substance abuse.