Case Study 76 Assisted Living Platform - The Long Term Care Revolution: A study of innovatory models to support older people with disabilities in the Netherlands This study was undertaken to see what can be learned from the experience of the Netherlands about long term care in order to inform policy, research and practice in the UK. The comprehensive analysis of the two countries has also been used to help the Technology Strategy Board’s project - the Long Term Care Revolution – with examples of innovation and best practice in adult social care provision in a country similar to the UK in many ways. Of particular interest is that while the two countries are very similar in demographic profile and the experiences of the older generation, it is notable that according to official statistics older individuals remain disability-free for nearly half a decade longer in the Netherlands than in the UK. Written by Anthea Tinker, Jay Ginn and Eloi Ribe at the Institute of Gerontology, Department of Social Science, Health and Medicine, King’s College London for the Technology Strategy Board Reproduced here by the Housing Learning and Improvement Network September 2013 © Housing Learning & Improvement Network www.housinglin.org.uk Table of Contents Executive Summary . i Background . 1 Aim of the study . 1 Research questions . 2 Organisation of the report . 2 SECTION 1: Policies . 3 a. A demographic comparison of the UK and the Netherlands ���������������������������� 3 b. Background to the Dutch long-term care system ���������������������������������������������� 6 i) The Dutch long-term care insurance scheme ���������������������������������������������������� 7 ii) Care funded by the AWBZ system �������������������������������������������������������������������� 7 iii) Eligibility criteria and assessment ���������������������������������������������������������������������� 8 iv) How does the co-payment system work? ���������������������������������������������������������� 9 c. Policies for long term care in the Netherlands: A review of schemes for the social care of older people ���������������������������������� 9 d. Innovations for older people with modest long-term care needs �������������������� 12 e. Innovations for people with intensive long-term care needs �������������������������� 14 f. Conclusions �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 17 SECTION 2: The Netherlands case study visits �������������������������������������������������������� 18 a. Introduction ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 18 b. Major themes from the interviews: Policy changes in long term care ����������� 18 c. Major themes from the interviews: The importance of social relationships �� 19 d. Major themes from the interviews: Environment and community belonging 20 e. Major themes from the interviews: Listening to users: designing for choice, control and flexibility ����������������������������������������������������� 21 f. Major themes from the interviews: Opportunities for business ��������������������� 21 g. Major themes from the interviews: Understanding of disability and the need for care �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 22 h. Conclusions from the interviews ����������������������������������������������������������������������� 23 CONCLUSIONS . 24 APPENDIX A: DETAILS OF THE VISITS IN 2013 �������������������������������������������������������� 26 APPENDIX B: METHODOLOGY . 28 APPENDIX C: REFERENCES ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 29 Note �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 31 About the Institute of Gerontology, Department of Social Science, Health and Medicine, King’s College London . 31 About the Housing LIN . 32 Published by . 32 © Housing Learning & Improvement Network – www.housinglin.org.uk Executive summary The Netherlands, like the UK, has an ageing population; those aged 60+ are projected to increase from 23 to 30 per cent of the population, and the Age Support Ratio to decrease to below 4, by 2050. Despite having the same Life Expectancy as in UK, Healthy Life Expectancy in the Netherlands is over 4 years longer. If this is not a measurement artefact, it has important implications for long term care and suggests further research is needed to discover the reason for the difference. One possible factor is the lower poverty rate in the Netherlands among those aged 65+, which is about one fifth of the UK rate but there may be other factors such as the pro-cycling culture and a traditional culture that is more egalitarian and socially-cohesive. Furthermore: 1. Dutch older people are less likely than British to live with their children and informal care is low, formal home care high, relative to international levels. 2. Spending on long term care falls less heavily on individuals in the Netherlands than the UK (7 compared with 36 percent of the total) due to a contributory social insurance scheme that covers home-based personal care and long term institutional care for all those with chronic conditions. Thus the risk of very heavy costs falling on vulnerable individuals is avoided by sharing the cost across the whole population. • However, there has been a shift in recent years from collectively organised and funded long term care in the Netherlands, and also from residential to home-based care by family and private providers. Eligibility for care funded by social insurance has been tightened and co- payments based on income (but capped) have been introduced. Financial compensation to informal carers for their care work is now excluded as is most publicly funded help with housework. The latter may be supported by the Local Authority, depending on the user’s income and circumstances. Personal Budgets have been ended for new users since 2010. These changes have been implemented mainly to save costs to the state-sponsored social insurance fund; but they might put more pressure on informal carers. • Technical innovations are evident in telehealth, telecare, and schemes to combat isolation through extending internet use, including the facility for video-conferencing with family members and wider community. However, these are not yet widespread and it is doubtful to what extent they can replace, especially for confused older people, the reassurance and comfort of helpful human care. • For older people with only light or moderate disability, age-proof housing, senior co- housing and local initiatives for neighbourhood-based care using volunteers demonstrate the viability of such innovations and their potential to delay entry to a residential institution. Co-housing tenancies for older people from several ethnic minorities has enabled them to live near to others from their own culture. • For those with more intensive care needs, innovations in accommodation-with-care, mostly set up by non-profit organisations, emphasise re-creating home-like small households within larger complexes. These aim to promote maximum autonomy within a ‘normal’, safe and familiar environment; they include provision for dementing residents. • Civil society organisations have pressed for a person-centred approach to care, one which gives voice and choice to disabled people while promoting re-ablement and preventing deterioration in health. Social relationships, allowing for frequent face-to-face interaction, © Housing Learning & Improvement Network – www.housinglin.org.uk i are recognized as vital to older people’s health and well-being. Experts say more development on these lines is needed, especially reaching out to isolated individuals, and • Opportunities exist for businesses to expand in the area of long term care. For example, as care providers in partnership with housing associations and also to invest in internet- based systems designed to promote social interception and combat loneliness. © Housing Learning & Improvement Network – www.housinglin.org.uk ii The Long Term Care Revolution: A study of innovative models to support older people with disabilities in the Netherlands Background A Technology Strategy Board study, ‘Assisted Living Platform - the Long Term Care Revolution’ (Tinker, Kellaher, Ginn & Ribe, 2012 and published by King’s College London and the Housing LIN, 2013) analysed a wide range of traditional and cutting edge initiatives to promote independence and well-being in later life, including a variety of evaluated initiatives in the UK and Europe. A particular focus was the role of housing in enabling older disabled people to delay or avoid admission to institutional care homes. It was clear that some countries were ahead of the UK in developing innovative and alternative approaches to long term care, with the Netherlands being the outstanding example. The country has a similar demographic profile to the UK and shares much recent history. It is therefore informative to understand the rationale underlying the Dutch long term care system, to learn how it was initiated and developed and to see how it operates. This case study by the Institute of Gerontology, King’s College London, is based on a piece of research that looks more closely at the long-term care of older people in the Netherlands. Aim of the study To provide relevant information about the Netherlands on how support is provided to older
Details
-
File Typepdf
-
Upload Time-
-
Content LanguagesEnglish
-
Upload UserAnonymous/Not logged-in
-
File Pages36 Page
-
File Size-