Europe’'s aging population means the need for long-term care workers is increasing to support the elderly and those in need of assistance in day-to-day activities. About six million people currently work in the industry, but estimates suggest the bloc will need another 1.6 million maintenance workers by 2050.
Banska Stiavnica’da in ’ has launched a community-based pilot project to help older people live safely and independently at home for as long as possible.
Access to quality care and services for the elderly in this part of the country is not always possible due to lack of funding and staff.
Lucia Schneider, 38, has been caring for her grandmother Eva’ for nearly a year. He's one of the lucky ones who can provide care as part of his job.
Lucia Euronews’e “My job is to help my grandmother clean, shop and shower, ” said.
Increased demand for long-term caregivers
According to data released by the European Commission, public expenditure on professional long-term care is low in Europe’, and GDP in 2019’ only %It represents 1.7’sini. According to data released by the European Commission, the care of the elders mostly falls to families due to the costs.
Eva has been living alone since her husband passed away, and her small pension doesn't cover all her needs. That's why his family needs to support him financially.
Eva, “ said I couldn't go to the nursing home because my pension was too small to pay.
However, Eva prefers to stay home and be close to her family as long as she has the opportunity.
Projections, SlovakiaNumber of people in need of long-term care in ’ by 2070 %It shows that it will increase by more than 50’; That's twice the average increase in AB’.
Support and technology for the elderly
Mária Petrová lives alone and needs long-term care. A year ago, she enrolled in a community social work centre for one of the projects supported by the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).
The goal is to bring together social service providers, healthcare providers and municipalities to provide more services to the elderly.
The support and technology he receives allows him to live independently at home.
“I have to go to the doctor often. Mr. Zorván is taking me to the hospital, and he's waiting for me, and he's bringing me home.
“ [my control monitor] shows my fever, blood pressure, and other things. All of this helps a lot mentally and physically, ” added.
How does the EU support long-term care?
Pavel Červienka leads the project in the field. He consults with the municipality and the elderly in the region to meet their needs.
“We came up with the idea of connecting municipalities to micro-regions, ” said. “In this way, we can accumulate more funds, pay a sufficient number of caregivers, and possibly motivate more people to start social work.”
Pavel Adamy’ye is accompanied by Alžbeta Zaušková, one of the social caregivers of the project. For him, this job is a profession that should be valued more.
Alžbeta, “This is a very important job nowadays, so it can be better in terms of working hours and be better paid, ” explained.
Due to staff shortages and increasing pressure on public finances, the European Union adopted the European Care Strategy to improve the working conditions of caregivers and ensure that the elderly age with dignity.
Euronews asked Ivailo Kalfin’den, Director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), to explain the biggest challenges facing long-term social care in Europe’.
“There are so many, so it's hard to summarize them. But perhaps the biggest challenge is access to long-term care services. Simply put, there are many people who do not have proper access to long-term care.
“But the elephant in the room is the staff and caregivers. With its aging population, care workers are increasingly needed in Europe’, and caregivers are becoming scarce. There are not enough young people in the care industry, and this gives a very bad perspective in the future if nothing is done.”
Maintenance work is often characterized by difficult working conditions and low wages. This means that it is difficult to attract more people to that sector.
Ivailo Kalfin, “The Commission will therefore put forward a long-term care strategy, ” said. “Of course we need to talk about salaries because care workers are underpaid. But it's not just salaries, there are also a number of additional supports that can be provided to care workers, for example, a little more support for mental health, because they work in difficult conditions.
“Then education is also very important because [technological] change can help, but it can also be an obstacle. Therefore, it is very important to keep these people up-to-date with current information.
“Many of them have short-term interviews, so they always need to be available, but they also need to have time to rest, relax, regroup before returning.”
For Ivailo Kalfin, supporting unofficial caregivers, such as family members caring for their relatives, creates even more challenging challenges.
“, these unofficial caregivers are mostly women. Because women tend to work in less paid, more precarious jobs. And this is a stigma that has been going on for many years, ” said.
Most of these people who look after the elderly or disabled at home can't go to work. I mean, they have really low incomes, and in practice, that's their job. So if we want to ensure a minimum quality of life, they need support from the social system. - ”
Producer/Writer/Reporter: Fanny Gauret
Accelerated course author: Jeremy Wilks
The video editor: Silvia Lizardo
The producer is: Louise Lehec
Camera number one: Mathieu Rocher
The camera 2: Yves Pottiaux
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