Private and public Spitex at a glance - Where can I get what?
Most people only think about home care and nursing care when relatives or, at the latest, they themselves find themselves in such a situation due to old age, an accident or illness. Sooner or later, this area of life affects us all in one way or another. Without the necessary knowledge, this emotionally charged topic becomes complicated and unnecessarily unpleasant. This article is intended to help anyone who is dealing with the subject of Spitex, care and support for people in need of assistance for the first time.
What do "Spitex" and other common terms mean?
The term "Spitex" is only used in German-speaking Switzerland and is an abbreviation for "spitalexterne Hilfe und Pflege". On the one hand, this form of outpatient care at home has the advantage that it can be offered more cheaply than inpatient care. On the other hand, it is of course much more pleasant for the person being cared for in this way to remain in their familiar surroundings for as long as possible and to be cared for there.
Care" usually refers to actual medical care (basic care) such as administering medication, wound care, etc., but also things like personal hygiene.
Assistance" covers various areas such as care, support and housekeeping. The person requiring care is cared for, for example, simply through company and conversation or accompaniment on outings etc., but family members and children can also be cared for. The person requiring care is supported in everyday situations such as meals or visits to the doctor, but also the relatives, for whom the burden of such a situation should never be underestimated. Housekeeping includes activities that have to do with maintaining the household, such as cleaning, feeding pets, shopping, etc.
Private and public Spitex - what's the difference?
In Switzerland, Spitex services are offered by public providers, private companies and independent care professionals.
Public Spitex
Public providers are commissioned and financed by the municipalities or cantons. They have a care mandate and therefore also a duty to ensure that every Swiss citizen receives the basic care services they need, regardless of their place of residence, age and social class. These care services, prescribed by the respective doctor, are subject to compulsory health insurance and are precisely determined on the basis of a needs assessment. The infrastructure required to provide these services must be created and maintained by the providers. This ensures that every resident in Switzerland can make use of basic care services at any time according to their "prescribed" needs, but only these services. They therefore only offer clients a limited portfolio based on this "effective need", but must make this available to everyone at all times.
Private Spitex
Private providers are not subject to this care obligation and can therefore offer more flexible and versatile care services. The clients themselves or their relatives are the clients. The range of services offered by private Spitex providers is more varied and extensive than that of public providers and, in addition to clarification and advice, naturally also includes the basic care services mentioned above. You can therefore choose which provider you want to use for the basic care covered by statutory insurance. In addition to this, the private providers also offer a very wide range of services that can be put together individually. In addition to the actual medical care, this also includes domestic services, night care, coaching, e.g. for relatives, personal company and entertainment, support in everyday life and specialized care, e.g. for people with special medical conditions such as dementia or paraplegia. You can read more about the benefits of private Spitex here. Some of these services are even covered by supplementary insurance, so a free consultation is always worthwhile.
The same applies to independent care professionals as to private Spitex providers, except that the services provided by these individuals are naturally limited in terms of time, range of services and knowledge or specialization.
Which services do I get from which provider?
In a nutshell:
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Public providers can only offer basic care services due to the duty of care, determined and narrowed down to "effective needs", depending on the case.
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With private providers, you get the entire spectrum of possible services and specializations, including basic care services individually tailored to your needs. Of course, you can also choose which provider suits you best.
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Independent care professionals offer an individual range of services that can be very specialized or also broadly diversified - depending on training and target group - but limited to the respective person and their time/resources.
The Association of Private Spitex Organizations ASPS provides a practical overview table of the differences, which you can download here.
Current facts and figures on Spitex services in Switzerland
| Home care and assistance | 2016 |
|
Number of service providers |
1 909 |
|
Employees (in full-time equivalents) |
21 261 |
| Clients | 339 960 |
| Man | 131 726 |
| Woman | 208 234 |
| Caregiving services | |
| Number of Clients | 285 709 |
| Invoiced hours |
14 904 603 |
| Household support services | |
| Number of Clients | 121 524 |
| Invoiced hours | 6 164 873 |
| Revenue (in millions of Swiss francs) | 2 326,91 |
| Expenditures (in millions of Swiss francs) | 2 321,02 |
Source: Federal Statistical Office
In 2016, a total of around 1,900 Spitex service providers employed around 48,000 people, 21,261 of whom were full-time or similar. The total number of clients who used Spitex services in that year was over 300,000. The cost of these services amounted to around CHF 7,000 per client.
Conclusion
You've probably already guessed it - with private Spitex providers, you benefit from numerous advantages due to the differences mentioned above. You can find out exactly what these are in this blog post. To make sure you don't miss anything, you can sign up for our newsletter via this link.
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