Ageing policies – Access to services in different Member States

Project description:

Access to social, health care and long-term care, housing as well as other essential services including digital communication, play a key role for ensuring active ageing. However, the recent pandemic has only exacerbated the already existing pressure on providing equal and timely access to high-quality and affordable services, notably for the most vulnerable elderly and the disabled, while also putting a strain on the sustainability of social security and pension systems.

Given the importance of universal public services in the context of ageing policies, issues to be considered could include:

– reflecting on access to measures delivering targeted, integrated and person-centered support respecting dignity and independence of the older persons and fostering their abilities;

– examining the role of quality assurance, cost-effectiveness, affordability, innovation, connectivity and digitalisation in the access to and provision of different type of services, in different types of environments (e.g. home, community and residential care) and bearing in mind the territorial dimension;

– exploring the advantages and disadvantages of personalised quality health care services in the digital field (e.g. telecare and telemedicine);

– exploring the access to affordable quality housing for older persons, including assisted living and co-habitation;

– exploring access to lifelong learning and digital skills for healthy and inclusive working lives and beyond (e.g. online educational opportunities) and;

– addressing the importance of qualified workers providing services in the context of ageing policies (e.g. carers).

Objectives of the project:

• Definition of ageing policies and provide an analysis and elaborate on the concept of and data on access to high-quality, affordable and sustainable services, identifying possible qualitative and quantitative criteria and indicators, in the context of modern and sustainable social protection and pension systems in the EU 27 Member States; it would equally take into account the increased urgency of the pandemic (e.g. in terms of health prevention);
• Providing an overview of the state of play in Member States on access to quality services including in rural and remote areas, illustrating good practices in 6-8 Member States using a representative and geographical balance and identifying possible success factors; it would also identify the differences in quality (if any) between private and public provision of services;
• Outlining policy recommendations at EU level including as regards EU funding and legislation.

Project funding: European Parliament

Project leader: CASE

Project partners: Visionary Analytics, ICON

Experts: Agnieszka Sowa-Kofta, Izabela Styczyńska, Giovani Lamura, Ronald Schoenmaeckers, Katia Vladimirova, Anna Ruzik-Sierdzińska, Machteld Bergstra, Raimonda Mackevičiūtė