Generating Innovative Strategies for Care of the Elderly with Complex Needs: A Dialogue with Thought Leaders from Ontario and Europe

Diana Gosálvez Prados — última modificación 31/03/2011 16:07

There is a need to better understand how to identify complex-needs populations, the pathways they take in different systems and the impact these have on costs and quality of care. The development of measures to assess the performance of health and social care systems in these populations and of evidence on which system-level interventions are successful for whom and under what circumstances, are essential to effective and sustainable care delivery in all countries.

Despite the fact that different countries are facing similar epidemiology in terms of the characteristics and size of elderly populations with complex needs, the systems they have developed to provide health and social care to these populations are very different. This variation in care represents both a challenge and an opportunity.

By bringing thought leaders – both researchers and policy makers - from different countries together it will be possible to share ideas about how to better understand, assess and provide health and social care for elderly people with complex needs. This would help develop both the evidence and the capacity to build the links across countries and between the research and policy making communities that will help health and social care systems to provide the best care possible.