Reimagining long term care in Europe
Authors: Hendry Anne , Ilinca Stefania , Harper Sarah , Wadoux Julia , De Donder Liesbeth 
Published: January 2024

Introduction: This 90 minute workshop will be a collaboration between IFICs Ageing and Frailty SIG, Age Platform Europe and a group of experts who supported the government of Bizkaia in developing an empowerment model for long-term care.

The session will interest policy makers, researchers, advocates, patients, carers and professionals who plan, commission, fund, provide or regulate long-term care.

The European Care Strategy sets out an EU vision on a rights based approach to long-term care with a co-production and preventative approach. It calls for a social protection model for financing care to make it accessible to all. It emphasises the need to integrate and coordinate health and social care, to invest in innovative solutions to improve care and working conditions and to build capacity and skills of the care workforce.  The strategy publication coincided with the launch of a report by the Bizkaia council, AGE Platform Europe and a group of European academic experts.  The Bay of Care report calls for a stronger commitment to a rights-based approach to long-term care. It proposes a more holistic view of older people’s well-being and quality of life with their goals and preferences central to the design of long term care within a person-centred and integrated system. The model takes a life-course approach to healthy ageing and both gender and social equity.

Structure: Welcome and Scene setting - 20 minutes. Participants will hear short summaries of the EU Care Strategy; WHO Europe’s Framework to support countries to achieve an integrated continuum of long term care; and the Bay of Care Long-Term Care Empowerment Model.

Facilitated world café style discussion in small groups - 60 minutes:

Each table will host a discussion on the accelerators of the Long-Term Care Empowerment model:

Implement multi-dimensional assessment and a person centred approach

Universal access to care and ensure integration and continuity of care

Improve workforce planning and assure quality of care

Combat ageism and elder abuse and support families and communities

Participants will rotate tables to reflect and discuss on what these accelerators mean for their own system in the context of local social and environmental factors, culture, gender and generational norms. 

Inquiry questions to prompt discussion include:

How should governance, finance and accountability be organised at national, regional and local levels? 

What enables meaningful co-design by citizens, communities and care providers together? 

How can we ensure strong horizontal integration between primary care, community providers, public health and local communities? 

How can we strengthen integrated workforce planning to address workforce challenges?

Facilitators will summarise the discussion to date and invite each new group to add insights and highlight tools and good practices relating to each theme.  

Wrap up – 10 minutes: Participants will be invited to identify actions they can take within their own system and through collaboration with relevant international SIGs and policy forums to make an empowerment model of long term care a reality. 

Actions and gaps will inform the SIG workplan and future sessions of the WHO Europe LTC forum.