You have full access to this open access article. The main feature of this ideal model is public social care services, such as home care and residential care services, which can cover the need for personal and medical care, as well as assistance with household chores. These services are provided within a formally and professionally based long-term care system, where the main responsibility for the organization, provision and financing of care traditionally lays with the public sector.
According to the principle of universalism in: Antonnen et al. Also, care services should be made available for all and generally be used by all, with no stigma associated. However, recent decades have seen a continuous tendency towards prioritization of care for the most frail, contributing to unmet need, informalization of care and privatization in the use of topping up with market-based services.
These changes have raised questions about increasing inequalities within Nordic long-term care systems. We investigate in the article what effect changes have for equality across social class and gender, for users and informal carers.
The article is based on analysis of comparable national and international statistics and a review of national research literature and policy documents. Equality is a key characteristic for the Nordic countries, sometimes presented as the greatest legacy of the twentieth century in this region Kvist et al. Accordingly, social services are generally organized on the basis of universalism and citizenship, not on membership or merit.
The ideal is therefore that any inequality in social background should be evened out to ensure an equitable allocation of care services.
