Good practice:

Detecting and preventing economic and physical abuse of older people

This good practice stems from the goal to improve care for people who request a dependency assessment by means of coordinated action of all the professionals and stakeholders involved, specifically by means of the incorporation of the Individual Care Programme (PIA) in integrated and comprehensive care. Specific goals are:

a) To consolidate and expand the existing good practices among professionals of the social services and health systems in the detection and care of community cases.
b) To integrate the preparation of the PIA as a further instrument for the comprehensive care of the person in such a way that the envisaged resources and benefits envisaged are part of a general social healthcare plan.
c) To prepare a joint communication procedure in the detection of cases needing to be addressed by both health and social systems.
d) To early detect the social fragility situations and to foster the continuity of social healthcare
e) To guarantee the continuity of care by means of the care routes using coordinated actions in the detected cases
f) To agree on tools and criteria by constructing a common language
g) To embark on joint assessment practices and prepare personalised
case action plans among professionals of those sectors.
h) To prepare procedures for the coordinated approach to cases that require a urgent response.
i) To provide more comprehensive information to people in a dependency situation and their carers.

The required resources are the very professionals of the social services and health systems that run them on a daily basis.

1. When a social healthcare risk situation requiring the participation of other stakeholders is detected, contact is established with those stakeholders and a joint intervention plan put forward.
2. A more efficient case communication procedure has been established.
3. The sessions to disseminate the procedures are ensuring that there is greater information on the existing services and benefits, and how to access them etc.

The Good Practice began as a pilot and with the specific aim of preparing a streamlined and user-friendly procedure that could be easily integrated in the routine work of the professional teams and that they would consider it as something that facilitates their work.

Establishing clear goals and a streamlined and user-friendly communication channel is therefore fundamental.

It began in Bilbao as the city accounts for practically half the cases requesting assessment of the dependency situation. It is being implemented in different organisations in such a way to ensure it is considered routine and included in broader protocols that are already functioning or are being prepared.