Affordable high-quality long-term care: Catalysing dialogue and action under the European Care Strategy

The conference brought together policy-makers, social partners and stakeholders active in long-term care at international, European, and national and local levels, to take stock and pave the way for joint commitments to improve affordability, availability and quality of long-term care, while addressing workforce challenges and supporting informal carers.

The aim was to shine light on results of EU-level actions under the European Care Strategy as well as on the Member States’ plans to continue investments and reforms and to discuss further avenues for action, two years after the adoption of the Council Recommendation on access to high-quality affordable long-term.

The event featured speakers from the Social Protection Committee, European Trade Union Confederation, BusinessEurope, Social Platform,  Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Health Organisation (WHO), International Labour Organisation (ILO), International Social Security Association (ISSA), and Global Observatory of Long-Term Care, alongside other social partners and EU-level civil society organisations, long-term care coordinators in the Member States, and the Commission’s Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and Directorate General Justice and Consumers.

A high-level panel discussed global perspectives and actions on long-term care with international partners, followed by the launch of the ‘State of Long-term Care’ tool, a key deliverable of the Care Strategy developed in the context of a strategic partnership with the World Health Organisation.

In the afternoon, a series of workshops provided an opportunity to take a closer look on policy responses to key long-term care challenges in Europe, exploring innovative approaches and best practices. The sessions touched upon affordability, quality and availability of LTC, as well as improving working conditions and skills in the LTC sector and supporting informal carers, in line with the key dimensions of the Council Recommendation. Finally, the conference ended with a panel debate on how a joint commitment for action shall shape the future of long-term care in Europe.

Photo gallery of the conference

Background

The 2022 Council Recommendation aims to improve access to affordable, high-quality long-term care for all people in need of care, across all care settings and also concerning all formal and informal carers.

Responsibility for the design and delivery of long-term care services lies primarily with Member States. All Member States have in place a long-term care coordinator or another appropriate coordination mechanism supporting the implementation of the Recommendation and national implementation reports were shared with the Commission and wider public.

The European Commission provides support by facilitating Mutual learnings and exchanges of best practices as well as financial support for innovating and reforming national social policies regarding LTC via EASI social innovation projects, ESF+, ERDF, the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the Technical Support Instrument. Country analysis and guidance is regularly provided within the European Semester economic coordination cycle.