Aging and dependency, pillar of Health Europe

The health and dependency care systems of the member countries of the European Union present important inequalities that require coordinated work, respecting national competences, to move towards a homogeneous Europe of Health and place health as a “strategic” and “cohesion” pillar. This is confirmed by the report ‘A Spanish vision of Health Europe’, prepared through the Prensamedia analysis team and the specialized editorial offices of ‘Here Europe’ and ‘Crónica Sanitaria’, in which the Association of Dependency Services Companies (AESTE) has actively contributed with the preparation of the chapter dedicated to Dependency Care.

The report, presented at the headquarters of the Collegiate Medical Organization (OMC), comparatively analyzes the state of the portfolio of health rights and services, health care and delivery models, the drug value chain and dependency care and care for the elderly in EU countriesincluding in each section a detailed analysis of the situation in Spain.

In the latter case, AESTE (@AESTE_oficial) concludes that dependency care and care for the elderly must be addressed “from a shared European vision, which favors the exchange of good practices between Member States and which places long-term care as a fundamental pillar of Health Europe, at the same level as healthcare or access to medicines.”

Through these four pillars, the objective is to reflect the “great shared challenges” at the European level, among which the aging of the population, chronicity, budgetary pressure, lack of professionals, therapeutic innovation and the need for greater coordination between systems stand out.

Nikolaos Isaris, Deputy Director at the European Commission Representation in Spain; Josune Méndez, general secretary of AESTE; Tomás Cobo, President of the WTO; Jesús González, editorial director of Prensamedia; José Ignacio Echániz, Former Minister of Health; and Carlos González Bosh, Vice President of CEIM. Photo: Prestomedia Group.

“There is no greater social policy than health and there is no greater element of cohesion than guaranteeing that all European citizens, wherever they live, have real and effective access to quality healthcare“said the CEO of the Prestomedia Group, Yago González, during the presentation of the document.

“Spain appears in this analysis as a country with strong, universal healthcarewith a broad portfolio of services and a drug pricing system that guarantees access. But also as a system subject to increasing tensionswaiting lists, budgetary pressure, territorial inequalities and Primary Care that bears a good part of the weight of the model,” Yago González detailed.

On the other hand, he specified that Europe presents itself as “an essential project, but still incomplete“, because “there is no true convergence between care models, patient mobility remains limited and strategic autonomy in medications continues to be a pending issue.”

The challenge of aging and dependency

AESTE has focused the study on one of the great structural challenges of the European Union, such as the progressive aging of the population and the increase in dependencyas they point out in a note. In this sense, they have highlighted that Europe is facing a “major demographic transformation that requires rethink current health and social care modelsmoving towards more coordinated and integrated systems“, which is why they insist on the need to reinforce the professionalization of care and advance the social and economic recognition of professionals who care for people in a situation of dependency to, ultimately, achieve a sustainable care system.

Likewise, AESTE refers to the importance of “consolidate a solid and sufficient network of long-term care servicescapable of responding to the increase in demand and adapting to new social, health and demographic realities”, and in this context the entities providing services for dependency have a “strategic role”.

In its contribution to the study, AESTE highlights different points, these are:

• Dependency must be a first-order European issuenot a second level matter.
• Europe must reformulate dependency as a strategic public policy.
• Without socio-health coordinationthere is no continuity of care.
• The care sector is a strategic prioritynot a complement.
• Professionals are the invisible pillar of Health Europe.
• Investing in dependency is investing in cohesion, equity and future.

Photo: Prestomedia Group.

In a round table after the presentation of the report, the president of the Collegiate Medical Organization (OMC), Thomas Cobo; the former Minister of Health in Castilla-La Mancha and the Community of Madrid, José Ignacio Echaniz; the vice president of CEIM and pharmacist, Carlos Gonzalez; and the general secretary of the Association of Dependency Services Companies (AESTE), Josune Mendezhave detailed the main socio-health challenges and priorities that they observe in Spain and the EU.

Méndez has criticized that dependency is “the great forgotten one” and has pointed out the need for “real integration, in which dependency is not treated as a second-level issue” and for “greater coordination to be able to move towards a European care framework.”

In this sense, he has alluded to inequalities in care, a care model that falls on families and, especially, on women, lack of socio-health coordination and deficit of professionals. “Europe is weak in care and if Europe is weak in care, Health Europe is incomplete“, he stated.

“The dependency sector is underfundedand care cannot continue to be treated as a low-cost service”, highlighted the general secretary of AESTE, adding that “Not investing in care increases costs“, making this one of the most expensive ways to provide healthcare.”Without professionals there is no care“, he stated, warning that “We are arriving late to address the great challenge of the demographic challenge“.