Local structures for senior care and networks that bring the relevant participants together are two possible solutions to mold demographic change in communities.
Communities shaping care
For years, policymaking efforts aimed at reforming Germany’s system of care for seniors have focused on long-term funding and doing more to make sure the care that is provided is genuinely need-based. A key activity here is promoting home care, which most people in Germany say they prefer to institutional care.
By 2020, the number of people who need nursing and home care in Germany will increase by more than 20 percent, from a current 2.4 million to 2.9 million people.
Over the long term, there will be fewer family members in Germany to serve as caregivers, which means it will be increasingly important to have structures in place for providing professional non-institutional care. Yet, in the last 10 years there has been no noticeable increase in this form of care compared to traditional institutional providers. An in-depth look at the community level reveals considerable differences in how prevalent the various forms of care are, an issue that has yet to be subjected to systematic research.
This is the starting point for our analysis. We are examining this situation in detail in order to develop potential community-level strategies for creating the necessary nursing and home care structures and organizations. This project was launched recently, and the various project phases and initial results will be documented here on the Bertelsmann Stiftung website.
