Elderly Care in Europe
In spite of considerable civic amenities, care home facilities and vast improvements in the sphere of the care for the elderly and infirm, European nations still rank low in surveys studying the position of developed economies who have systems for proper care of the aged population.
This probably stems from the act that the percentage of the elderly has tripled during last couple of decades.
It's interesting to observe the development of the current models of elderly care in Europe.
What do demographics say? The ageing population has been steadily increasing and it is predicted that it will multiply more than three times in the next three decades.
Since there is no way to contradict or reverse this demographic fact the community, care homes and hospitals will have to work with an integrated and sustained approach to efficiently take care of the ageing population.
Though there have been a lot of advancements in technology, medicine and legislature, the improvements have not been leveraged properly to serve the changing needs of the population.
This is due to three reasons.
Firstly, there is no proper differentiation between the varied needs of the elderly.
Secondly, care homes do not have a uniform scale of performance and thirdly there is no proper system of evaluating their performance.
What does AHA say? AHA (active and healthy ageing) is an organisation which has taken several bold and active steps towards the proper evaluation of care homes and implemented radical changes in the existing systems of taking care of the elderly.
The January 2013 survey of AHA says that there are several factors like little or no cooperation between different areas of the health sector, lack of clarity about long term goals of social and health care and absence of proper standards.
AHA has been acting out its resolution of improving the general features of care homes in Europe and empowering the old and the infirm.
One way they have been doing this is by enabling the growth and development of personalised services which are adaptable to the changing needs of the elderly.
Another way they have used is to integrate easy to handle IT solutions that has helped a large chunk of the population to improve their personal living conditions.
Different Models of care for the elderly There are packages that offer different models of service like practical support, domestic care and assistance, personal care, nursing care, assisted living etc.
The first level of support is where information, advice and structured activities in the form of daily support are offered to the residents of the care home.
Domestic help and assistance refers to solid support of shopping, housework, laundry, meal delivery at home etc.
Personal care is where the resident requires help with dressing, washing and feeding.
Advice and emotional support is extremely important to maintain the psychological balance of such individuals.
Nursing care is an advanced level of assisted living which requires the tasks performed by a trained and certified nurse such as administering medical formulations, dressing sores and wounds etc.
This probably stems from the act that the percentage of the elderly has tripled during last couple of decades.
It's interesting to observe the development of the current models of elderly care in Europe.
What do demographics say? The ageing population has been steadily increasing and it is predicted that it will multiply more than three times in the next three decades.
Since there is no way to contradict or reverse this demographic fact the community, care homes and hospitals will have to work with an integrated and sustained approach to efficiently take care of the ageing population.
Though there have been a lot of advancements in technology, medicine and legislature, the improvements have not been leveraged properly to serve the changing needs of the population.
This is due to three reasons.
Firstly, there is no proper differentiation between the varied needs of the elderly.
Secondly, care homes do not have a uniform scale of performance and thirdly there is no proper system of evaluating their performance.
What does AHA say? AHA (active and healthy ageing) is an organisation which has taken several bold and active steps towards the proper evaluation of care homes and implemented radical changes in the existing systems of taking care of the elderly.
The January 2013 survey of AHA says that there are several factors like little or no cooperation between different areas of the health sector, lack of clarity about long term goals of social and health care and absence of proper standards.
AHA has been acting out its resolution of improving the general features of care homes in Europe and empowering the old and the infirm.
One way they have been doing this is by enabling the growth and development of personalised services which are adaptable to the changing needs of the elderly.
Another way they have used is to integrate easy to handle IT solutions that has helped a large chunk of the population to improve their personal living conditions.
Different Models of care for the elderly There are packages that offer different models of service like practical support, domestic care and assistance, personal care, nursing care, assisted living etc.
The first level of support is where information, advice and structured activities in the form of daily support are offered to the residents of the care home.
Domestic help and assistance refers to solid support of shopping, housework, laundry, meal delivery at home etc.
Personal care is where the resident requires help with dressing, washing and feeding.
Advice and emotional support is extremely important to maintain the psychological balance of such individuals.
Nursing care is an advanced level of assisted living which requires the tasks performed by a trained and certified nurse such as administering medical formulations, dressing sores and wounds etc.
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