The InCARE project will contribute to the design of a coherent and coordinated approach to the development of national long-term care policy and care services at local and regional level, by establishing socially innovative and participatory decision-making processes.
We work with care users, care provider organizations and policy-makers in Spain, Austria and North Macedonia to design, implement and scale-up innovative care services, with the ultimate goal of improving the well-being of older people and their families and increase their access to adequate and affordable care.
My mother could afford to pay for care but we couldn’t get consistent reliable care due to the pandemic. We chose a residence but even they are limited to what they can provide and in Canada if a higher level of care is required then the person needs to go to LTC which wasn’t available at the time and she ended up staying in hospital until she passed. The government offers home supports with a cookie cutter approach; not tailored to what would make staying in her home possible. PSWs [personal support workers] to help shower and dress but no service to wash dishes. She could shower, [but] she needed help with dinner and dishes or laundry. The maximum hours [funded by the] Government is 4 hours/week not enough to sustainably stay home.
Every person in need of care must be cared for so that he or she has all the dignity required. Taking into account their limitations, they must be provided with the highest possible quality of life. This care must be provided by family members and professional staff so that their affective and assistance needs are covered.
“Given the current state of care facilities, I would prefer to take care of my parents/loved ones at home and if I should require services I would prefer to be taken care of at home. The way I view care facilities in their present state is that these facilities provide everything needed to keep a person alive but greatly reduce their quality of life (e.g., loss of dignity, reduced access to meaningful activities and social interaction, loss of agency etc.). I believe it is practical, feasible and in governing bodies best interest in the long term to improve quality of care in these facilities. We now have good evidence for activities/programs that can improve wellbeing and physical health in older adults. We should be utilizing this evidence to improve the lives of older adults. If the quality of care provided in these facilities drastically improves, I would view this as the preferred option. But we are not there yet.”
