DfG 
We explored the continuity of knowledge in elderly care in Finland. Through fieldwork using abductive reasoning, we focused on human perspectives and found that social workers hold valuable insights for preventive elderly care. Our research highlighted the value of human interaction and some policy gaps. We aim to refine our insight to support care with empathy.
Our project has shifted from imagining Open Government as an orchestrator to a working concept thriving on a peer-to-peer network rather than an institution. We also examine the vision of an ‘age-friendly’ Finland as an appropriate response to the country’s major demographic shifts, especially from the perspective of Open Government.
Finland’s ageing population is challenging the coordination of the current care system. While medical data is being stored and collected, information about the social aspects of ageing still struggles to enter the system. In this scenario, integrating social and health care is the direction to take, ensuring continuity of knowledge to support this demographic shift.
After engaging with officials from the Open Government Finland initiative, and the Helsinki Elderly Citizens Council, an exercise of systems analysis was a great way to understand the phenomenon of Aging Population with relation to Open Government in Finland. Reframing the aging population as an opportunity for intergenerational collaboration, rather than a crisis, reveals untapped opportunities.
Our project reimagines Open Government Finland as an orchestrator of action coherence, ensuring that insights from diverse stakeholders—municipalities, civil society, and citizens—translate into meaningful governance. We explore strategies to enhance participation, strengthen feedback loops, and drive impactful, transparent decision-making.
Finland’s ageing population demands a more innovative, more connected healthcare system, but a fragmented system threatens patient care in Finland. As a continuation of the first blog post, this one focuses more on systems in healthcare. In our conclusion, social workers hold the key to bridging gaps between medical, social, and informal care.
Admist increasing healthcare costs, a shrinking tax base to fund healthcare, an aging population that will demand more health services, continuity of care is a proposed model to make healthcare more efficiently able to cope with the future. Underpinning continuity of care is the continuity of knowledge and information and how it is structured.
This blog entry summarises findings concerning healthcare reform “SOTE” and a new General Practitioner model. The short text provides reasons for both changes introduced by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health & Finnish Government highlighting its positive and negative implications. Ultimately, an uncomfortable, speculative question emerges: Might these changes neglect doctors’ well-being?
The first blog post explores the context-setting stage of the Open Government project, focusing on the role of the ageing population and public service in Finnish governance. It highlights the challenges of the negative perception of elderly citizens and barriers to their political participation. The post also reflects on understanding policy language and upstream thinking to create impactful proposals.
This blog reports our research progress and learning highlights on designing for the government, focusing on the Action Plan and elderly inclusion workstream under the Open Government initiative by the Ministry of Finance.