Which of these fields of Active and Healthy Ageing are addressed by your initiative?
Health literacy and patient empowerment, Personalized health management, Integrated care for chronic conditions, Independent living solutions.
If none of the above, answer here:
Please describe if and how your stakeholders (cooperation partners, funders, users, etc.) have been participating in defining the problem and developing the solution.
Our various partners have been active in first-line care for many years. Based on their experience they have a clear view of the problems experienced by older people in need of care and of the gaps in the offer of care services leading to early admission to a nursing home for many older people in need of care. Our partners have been involved in the preparation of the project at different levels: defining the target group, defining and developing care services… Carers were also consulted during the elaboration of the project, because without them home care would be impossible.
Has your solution been tested in trials, experimentations, or pilot projects? If yes, please describe the process and outcome.
No, our care services were not tested in advance since elaborating and testing a tailor-made range of services was part of the National Health Insurance Institute (RIZIV) call for projects.
What barriers might hinder the success of your initiative? How do you plan to overcome them?
Flemish and federal rules and regulations are not entirely harmonised and make it difficult to optimise care services. The various types of care providers and their professional status are often defined by different regulations, which sometimes prevents flexible employment of these professionals. A concrete example: professional carers subject to Flemish regulations who provide assistance at the weekend cannot be replaced in case of illness… As a result, carers will have to be appealed to. However, some individuals in need of care do not have carers or they are unavailable (they are abroad…), which compromises the continuity of care provision.
