This GOLTC Long Term Care Policy Interest Group webinar took place on the 24th June 2024, as a joint even with the WHO Regional Office for Europe and Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) at the European Commission.

The webinar explored the use of multi-stakeholder, participatory processes in shaping ambitious, inclusive, and sustainable long-term care policy reforms that address the care needs and preferences of diverse communities. In support of efforts under the EU Care Strategy, the WHO Regional Office for Europe and Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) at the European Commission have developed the ‘State of LTC’ assessment framework to support the efforts of EU Member States in strengthening their LTC systems. The framework promotes a participatory, multi-stakeholder approach to collecting data, building consensus on system-level goals, informing strategic planning and reform processes, and promoting performance management.

In this webinar WHO Europe and DG EMPL presented a proposed approach of engaging diverse stakeholders in participatory LTC reform processes, as envisioned through the State of LTC assessment, followed by presentations on experiences from Member States where such participatory processes have been carried out using the State of LTC instrument and a discussion on the value that participatory processes have in LTC reforms.

This webinar covered:

1. Introduction to GOLTC and the LTC Policy Interest Group (Adelina Comas-Herrera, Care Policy and Evaluation Centre, LSE, UK)

2. Presentation of multi-stakeholder participatory approaches to LTC reform, as envisioned through the State of Long-Term Care Assessment process (Diana Eriksonaite, DG EMPL & Cassandra Simmons, WHO Regional Office for Europe).

3. Intervention on the national assessment in:

a. Ireland (Brian McGahey, Older Persons Strategy Unit, Department of Health, Ireland)

b. Greece (Maria Karagiannidou, WHO Athens Office on Quality of Care and Patient Safety)

4. Q&A and discussion, with Stefania Ilinca (WHO Regional Office for Europe)