Seminar in the Basque Country

“When it comes to the cooperation between health and social care sectors, the reference should always be the person and satisfying their needs in the most efficient way”, said Juan Maria Atutxa, President of the Sabino Arana Foundation, in the opening of the seminar Health and social services: the management of complementarity. The seminar took place on the 9th April in Bilbao and was organised by the Sabino Arana Foundation, together with the Basque Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs, an ESN member.

The meeting brought together more than 60 delegates from the health and social care sectors at all levels of government, the third sector, and users and families’ organisations. Participants had the chance to review two approaches of health and social care integration – Northern Ireland’s, based on more than 40 years’ experience, and the one in the Basque Country, which has been developing a model for cooperation for the past 25 years. The European Social Network (ESN) was invited to review the European context and present examples from other European countries.

Two different experiences

John Farrell, Assistant Director at the Health and Social Care Board, explained the process in Northern Ireland, the basis of which was the so called ‘Transforming your care’ agenda. Amongst others, the transformation included a common information system and a unique identification number for each patient which allow access to their health and social care records. “This model places the patient in the centre of both systems and organises the services around the needs of the patient. It is also important to make the information systems available to those community groups that can help public administrations to identify those who are in need”, argued Mr. Farrell.

Lourdes Zurbanobeaskoetxea, Health and Social Care Coordinator in the Basque government, presented the Basque Country’s model of policy coordination, based on values including: person-centred focus, community-based model, bio-social outcomes and accessibility. “It is essential to have a common language for which both health and social care sectors took as a reference the wording of the 2008 Social Services Act, which speaks of health and social care with a longitudinal perspective: from prevention through treatment and care to rehabilitation”, said Ms. Zurbanobeaskoetxea. A health and social care board has been set up by the Basque government to establish:

• A common services portfolio


• A health and social care information and communication system


• Local operational programmes


• Targeted groups


• Innovation, research, training and knowledge exchange

 

The European context

ESN Policy Director Alfonso Lara Montero reviewed the definitions of health and social care integration, as well as the enablers and barriers to integration, with a focus on the organisations, the relationships between professionals and financial models. “There is not a single approach, from informal and formal cooperation to partial or full integration, there are important variations across countries. These include pooled budgets, lead commissioning, managerial and professional integration. However, it is clear that there is a renewed interest in health and social care integration in Europe”, explained Mr. Lara Montero.

The debate and the future steps

Participants discussed the two different experiences and analysed the drivers and barriers to intersectoral cooperation and integration, such as technology, funding, workforce or economic factors. A future document will include the key aspects of the transformation of the current health and social care system(s) with the aim to support a sustainable process of change in the Basque Country.

Resources

ESN’s paper ‘Working with education, health and employment: recognising a shared agenda’
Health and social care integration in Spain
Integrated services for more person-centred care provision