Information on service chain performance: periods of care in social and health services prior to institutional care

The purpose of this article is to examine what kind of information can be provided for the purposes of decision making using existing register data about periods of care in social and health services before a decision is made on long-term institutional care with respect to the person concerned. The empirical material consists of register data from four municipalities in different parts of Finland. There are some regional differences in the delivery and supply of services. The method, which analyses the functioning of certain service chain segments and employs one specific perspective, allows the implementation of service provision for the population within a specific area to be monitored or comparisons to be made between different areas. In the future, it will also be possible to use the method for producing parameters that describe target situations. The present study acts a pilot for such uses of the method.