Providing Integrated Health and Social Care for Older Persons Issues, Problems and Solutions (PROCARE) is a project in the EU Fifth Framework Programme (Quality of life and Management of Living Resources, Area ‘The Ageing Population and disabilities’). It aims to help in defining the new concept of an integrated health and social care for older persons in need of care by comparing and evaluating different modes of care delivery.
This book gathers the achievements of the first project phase (2002) that consisted in a literature overview focusing on the question which of the variety of innovations in modes of organisation, finance and professional collaboration observed in Europe over the last decade have been the most successful and long-lasting ones. Thus, scholars present national reports from nine EU Member States: Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK. A general overview and a more theoretic article defining the issues at stake introduce the publication.
This book gives a unique general overview on European approaches towards integrated social and health care services and policies that are to be developed to face the growing need of care in ageing societies. Furthermore, it provides indicators for successful approaches and models of good practice. Finally, facts and figures about co-ordination at the interface between health and social care for older persons as well as problems and solutions (‘lessons to learn’) concerning regulation and co-ordination are exhibited by well-known scholars in social and health policy research.
The Dutch paper (Carine Ex, Klaas Gorter, Uschi Janssen) explores the consequences of a care system in motion: the modernisation of the care for the elderly and disabled people. It provides a description of the attempts to accomplish integrated care systems in the Netherlands. Replacing the supply-oriented care by demand-oriented care is the leading idea in that process. Nevertheless, the supply-oriented system is still only laboriously making place for a more demand-oriented approach. Examples are given of innovations in the Dutch Care System.