Analysis of the state of social services for elderly and disabled persons in the Russian federation

Abstract

This is a comparative data analysis of the federal statistical survey of social services for elderly and disabled persons in outpatient departments and day hospitals in the Russian Federation for the 2006–2011 period on the number of organizations that provide medical and social services, the number of individuals who are served, and the number of full-time staff positions. The analysis revealed that during this period the number of social rehabilitation centers, health centers, and hospices for elderly citizens were reduced in Russia, which in its turn caused a significant decrease of hospital beds and persons served per year. The data on the activities of hospitals and residential institutions in the system of social services for the elderly and disabled, as well as the number of persons who were served over the 2009–2011 period, were analyzed. The analytical results that were obtained showed that one of the new approaches to solving these social gerontology problems on system management of outpatient departments, day hospitals, and residential institutions in Russia is optimization of the institutional structure, reorganization of hospital-bed capacity, refurbishment of existing buildings, and the construction of new ones.