On June 6 the Global Coalition on Aging released a report, Relationship-Based Home Care: A Sustainable Solution For Europe’s Elder Care Crisis.
“Relationship-based home care offers a sustainable solution for the growing care needs across Europe and represents the highest-quality care in the home that we can offer our seniors,” said 
Michael W. Hodin, PhD, CEO, GCOA in the release. “This highly personalized type of care creates benefits not only for older adults and their families, but also for our health and care systems, governments, and society as a whole. Our report highlights ways that policy-makers, business, and third-sector organizations can work together to help Europe spend smarter on long-term care as the needs of an ageing Europe skyrocket.”
Coming from a European perspective the report examines changes to care requirements, resulting from seniors living longer. The report points to relationship-based home care as a way to enable ongoing delivery of high-quality, person-centred, and outcomes-based care to older adults that improves lives while moderating health care costs.
As noted in the release the report proposes a set of policy actions to support the integration of this innovative form of care into European health and care systems:
Build a body of evidence that quantifies the value of relationship-based home care, and make it a standard offering within the care ecosystem.
- Support outcomes-based research on the merits of relationship-based home care compared to task-based home care
- Establish person-centred, outcomes-driven standards for care
- Integrate relationship-based care as a central part of the care ecosystem
Make a highly skilled caregiving workforce the heart of the solution.
- Promote caregiving as a promising, fulfilling career opportunity
- Provide professional training for carers
- Adopt standards that raise the bar for caregiving across the industry
- Invest in the current and future caregiving workforce to ensure the supply of carers keeps pace with the demand
Invest in high-quality care as a solution for people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
- Recognize the value of Alzheimer’s care in the home
- Promote continuity of care for those living with Alzheimer’s
- Increase investments in high-quality, person-centred care for those with Alzheimer’s commensurate with investments in biomedical research
Additionally, the report discusses the health human resources facing the sector, many which have also been identified by BCCPA through reports such as The Perfect Storm.
Download the full report or read BCCPA’s landmark policy paper, Health Begins at Home.
