InAdvance policy recommendations Workshop with EU Stakeholders

Vera Hörmann

Project Officer

AGE Platform Europe

On 14 March 2023, InAdvance project organised a workshop with 22 attendees in partnership with the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on the project’s policy recommendations with EU stakeholders including representatives of older people, informal carers, paritarian institutions, health and social care providers, service workers and hospitals.

The policy recommendations aim to create awareness of the need to provide earlier palliative care to older people who need it. They are based on the first results of the InAdvance project with a specific focus on the results obtained in the clinical sites involved in the project (Thessaloniki - Greece, Amadora - Portugal, Valencia - Spain, and Inverness - UK). An excerpt of this draft focusing on the recommendations formed the basis for discussions at the workshop.

The InAdvance palliative care policy recommendations are drafted in the EU Care strategy context and its recommendations on affordable high-quality long-term care adopted by the Council in December 2022. The long-term care recommendation proposes to Member States actions to make care more accessible, affordable and of better quality but does unfortunately not mention palliative care specifically.

Ms Zoe Tzotze-Lanara, Greek member of the EESC and rapporteur of the EESC’s Own-Initiative Opinion on the “Health Workforce and Care Strategy”, as well as co-rapporteur on the “European Care Strategy”, provided in her speech the framework for the workshop and highlighted how the European Care Strategy’s cohesive framework for EU Member States will lead to upward convergence. She also emphasized that providing accessible, available, affordable & inclusive high-quality care is a litmus test for social rights, for human rights in Europe, and the success of the EU Care Strategy.

The policy recommendations drafted by the InAdvance project are very well in line with the points highlighted by Ms Zoe Tzotze-Lanara and are structured according to the following topics:

1. Palliative care is neither available nor accessible for all;

2. Education and public awareness about Palliative Care are lacking;

3. Non-person-centred care leads to late identification of needs;

4. Fragmentation and discontinuity of care;

5. Cost-effectiveness of early admission to Palliative Care;

6. Diverse legal context in Europe.

The recommendations were discussed in small groups in a round table format, allowing every participant to provide feedback on each topic.

The active participation of EU Stakeholders provided valuable feedback and insights on palliative care from different perspectives which will be integrated in the further elaboration of the InAdvance policy recommendations. We’d like to thank everyone for their input and for joining the discussion.