European Partnership

This project is co-financed by the European Union

The EUSTACEA project

• EU project coordinated by AGE Platform Europe and gathering 11 partners from 10 different countries (2008-2010)

• Achievements: raised awareness on the specific needs and expectations of older people in need of long-term care – and need for action to prevent and fight elder abuse

• Developed a EU Charter of the rights and responsibilities of older people in need of long-term care and assistance and its accompanying guide

The EUSTACEA project • Challenges

o Implement Art. 25 of the EU Charter of fundamental rights:

“The Union recognises and respects the rights of the elderly to lead a life of dignity and independence and to participate in social and cultural life.”

o Lack of autonomy does not mean a loss of the rights :

“As you grow older and may come to depend on others for support and care, you continue to have the right to…”

o Better voice the needs and expectations of older care recipients in long-term care settings

Promote older people’s well being at home

Ensure high-quality care by involving a wide range of stakeholders

• The European Charter for older people in need of long-term care and assistance

Available in 13 languages

EN, FR, IT, DE, NL, SE, SI, CZ, EL, ES,

RO, PL and Catalan.

The EUSTACEA project

• The European Charter for older people in need of long-term care and assistance

Ten articles

– Art. 1: Right to dignity, physical and mental well-being, freedom and security

– Art. 2: Right to self-determination

– Art.3: Right to privacy

– Art. 4: Right to high quality and tailored care

– Art. 5: Right to personalized information, advice and consent

The EUSTACEA project

• The European Charter for older people in need of long-term care and assistance

– Art. 6: Right to continued communication, participation in society and cultural activity

– Art. 7: Right to freedom of expression and freedom of thought/conscience: beliefs, culture and religion

– Art. 8: Right to palliative care and support, and respect and dignity in dying and in death

– Art. 9: Right to redress

– Art. 10: Your responsibilities

The EUSTACEA project

• The accompanying guide

Available in 9 languages

EN, FR, IT, DE, NL, SE, SI, CZ, EL.

The EUSTACEA project

The EUSTACEA project • The accompanying guide

o Adresses each of the rights included in the Charter. It explains what they mean and how they can be translated into practice.

o Targeted information for policy makers, informal carers, professional carers, social services, service providers and older people’s organisations

o It presents some solutions and examples of good practices in different EU countries

o It does not aim to replace but rather to complement and support existing initiatives

• Continuity with the EUSTACEA project

• « European Partnership for the wellbeing and dignity of older people » renamed « WeDO : Wellbeing and Dignity of Older people »

• Coordinated by AGE Platform Europe, EU platform representing more than 150 organisations of older people

• From 1st December 2010 to the 29th November 2012

• 18 partners from 12 countries

The WeDO project

• Main objective:

Create a lasting and growing partnership at EU, national and local level of a wide variety of organisations (older people’s organisations, service providers, trade unions of carers, research centres, public authorities, etc.) committed to work together to promote the wellbeing and dignity of vulnerable and disabled older people and prevent elder abuse through the promotion of quality long-term care.

The WeDO project

• Project implementation:

– 18 Partners represented in the Steering Committee (8 meetings on 2 years in Brussels)

– 12 national coalitions and 1 European coalition (5 meetings on 2 years in the partners’ countries)

– 3 EU events during the two years gathering a wide range of stakeholders and some members of the coalitions (in Utrecht NL, Vienna AU, Brussels BE)

The WeDO project

• Project implementation:

– Development of an EU quality framework for Long-term care services based on two main documents: • The EUSTACEA charter

• The « Quality framework for social services » developed at EU level by the member states (SPC)

– Development of an EU Partnership Guide: • will contain recommendations for participatory quality

development, control and labelling tools.

• will be based on the European Quality Framework for LTC and will be adaptable to different national/regional structural and legal contexts.

• Similar as the WHO Age-friendly cities program

The WeDO project

• National and EU coalitions – Raise awareness on the improvement of older people’s

wellbeing and the fight against elder abuse

– Be a network of organisations committed to improve wellbeing and dignity of older people in LTC (share experiences, exchange ideas, common work and concrete actions)

– Give feedback to the steering committee on the different documents developed all along the project (EU quality framework, EU Partnership guide) to incorporate national and cultural differencies

The WeDO project

• Role of the national coalitions

– Develop a national/EU strategy for the wellbeing and

dignity of older people to implement the European Quality Framework and use the European Partnership Guide to develop or adapt your own policies/initiatives/quality tools

– Commit to take part on the long-term in the EU partnership for the wellbeing and dignity of older people at the end of the project

The WeDO project

• Members of the coalitions

• Older people’s organisations

• Care homes and home care services

• Ministries (Health, Social affairs, Labour, Education) and public agencies

• Universities and Research institutes (Gerontology, Police)

• Organisations fighting against domestic violence and elder abuse (helplines, information services, shelters)

The WeDO project

• Members of the coalitions • Women organisations

• Hospitals

• Quality standards inspectors/agencies

• Insurers

• Mental health organisations

• Consumers organisations

• Social Chambers, Welfare organisations

• Local public autorities

• Daily activities centers, charities

• Ombudsman

The WeDO project

• Feedback on the previous meetings • General willingess to improve quality care and to fight elder

abuse

• Existing laws/standards or initiatives in all the countries but not enough implemented or coordinated

• Recognition of the importance of key Principles for quality but need to think of the implementation

The WeDO project

• General recommendations • Respect older people’s rights and their human dignity, and

improve the Image and status of the older person in the society

• Empowerment and involvement in the care , older people need to be able to express their needs and be part of quality improvement process

• Carers need to be supported : training, cooperation with families, carers organisations

• Need more specific geriatric skills and attractivity of the care work

• Important budget cuts, austerity measures

The WeDO project

• General recommendations • Call for integrated care, adapted to the changing needs of the

person

• Need for standards, control over the quality

• Broad definition of Long-term care, towards 'services for older people in need of care and assistance'

• 'Person centred care' as the key principle

The WeDO project

• General recommendations • More prevention and early intervention

• Support local level/community (local authorities, families, neighbourhood) in implementing the principles

Initiatives needed to fight elder abuse, cooperation with police

• Specific approach with people with cognitive impairments and illnesses

The WeDO project

• Next steps • Wish to continue the work and to make the coalition growing

• Reflect on the implementation of the principles within the coalitions (EU Partnership Guide)

• Build on what already exists to define national strategies/ modify existing strategies on quality of long-term care

• Autumn 2011: Second round of meetings

The WeDO project

Contact person:

Maude Luherne

AGE Platform Europe

This project is co-financed by the European Union

maude.luherne@age-platform.eu

www.age-platform.eu/en/wellbeing