Demographic change is a globally recognized societal challenge. All countries in Europe are experiencing an ageing of their populations, and this trend will even increase in the future.Moreover, the number of older people with multiple and complex chronic conditions – the segment of the population that is already putting the greatest demands on health and social care services – is growing rapidly. It is expected so that demand will rise for both technically less complex care, as for instance, in Home Care for Elderly People and technically more complex care, as new technologies, such as genomics, metabolic testing, and computer-assisted surgery,… However currently there are not sustainable models for health and care delivery.In this context, the Integrated Care model has erupted in Europe as a new approach to get the long-term sustainability of health and care systems. This new approach promotes a better coordinated care pathway for patients, through team work of multidisciplinary professionals from the health and social services fields. Integrated Care services are more closely oriented to the needs of patients /users, multidisciplinary, well-co-ordinated and accessible, as well as anchored in community and Home Care settings.An enabler that will support the process of transformation of health and care delivery towards integrated care is the workforce. The CAREVOLUTION Project focuses on the side and perspective of professionals that work at Home Care Service, the homecare workers. Home care workers are the closest professional in contact with the elderly. It is for that reason that it is expected they might support the process of implementation of integrated care systems and models, delivering new higher added value tasks. Currently they cannot complete these tasks, because they do not have the necessary competences to complete them. Existing professional qualification frameworks for homecare workers do not contemplate which potential roles homecare workers might play within integrated care systems and models, hindering thus any kind of training efforts of such workforce on the skills necessary for the adoption of such roles. The overall goal of the CAREVOLUTION project was to improve and uplift the competences and skills of the professional profile of Home Care Workers in Europe by the update and review of their current professional profile and qualifications, for the inclusion of new competences and skills demanded for the adoption by these professionals of new tasks and roles in the framework of Integrated Care models.Consequently, the CAREVOLUTION partnership was established with 5 different organizations which have a complementary profile and are all working in the fields of the people dependency, the health and social care services and the VET training for care workers. In addition, 4 different countries are represented in order to enlarge the geographical scope of this project.The CAREVOLUTION project has led to the realization of a) 3 PREPARATORY ACTIVITIES (description of Good practices of Integrated Care Models; description of Unmet needs of elderly people with chronic diseases; description of the new Professional Profile of Home Care Worker.); b) 1 GENERAL TRAINING CURRICULA composed of 4 Units, responding to the new competences and skills to be provided to Home Care Workers on Integrated Care models; c) 4 ADAPTATION AT REGONAL / NATIONAL LEVEL taking into consideration the specific needs and context; d) 3 PILOT TESTING implemented and evaluated in Spain, the Netherlands and Scotland, which involved 56 Home Care Workers and 8 Trainers, and outreached indirect beneficiaries (approx. 164 Elderly people and 260 Informal caregivers); e) 1 SPANISH TRAINING CURRICULA WITH THEIR LEARNING MATERIALS adapted to the Basque Country; f) 1 ITALIAN TRAINING CURRICULA adapted to Emilia Romagna Region; g) 1 DUTCH TRAINING CURRICULA WITH THEIR LEARNING MATERIALS adapted to the Netherlands; h) 1 SCOTTISH TRAINING CURRICULA WITH THEIR LEARNING MATERIALS adapted to Scotland; i) 5 DISSEMINATION WORKSHOPS in 3 different countries (Italy, Scotland and the Netherlands) with 94 local participants; j) 1 FINAL CONFERENCE in Spain with 21 local participants.; and k) 37 DISSEMINATION ACTIONS were ran all along the project in the different participating countries.As a result, CAREVOLUTION project contributes to foster and facilitate the implementation of new Integrated Care models in Europe, allows Home Care Workers to access to new training opportunities on competences demanded for new integrated care models, enhancing their professional qualification and employability and uplifting the social consideration of these professionals, by the adoption of new functions and roles requiring a bigger qualification, and definitely enhances the quality of life and empowerment of patients and their family.

The overall aims of SUSTAIN are twofold: 1. to improve established integrated care initiatives for older people living at home with multiple health and social care needs, ensuring they are patient-centred, prevention oriented, efficient, resilient to crises, safe and sustainable; 2. to ensure that improvements to the integrated care initiatives are applicable and adaptable to other health systems and regions in Europe. In this proposal, integrated care is defined as those initiatives that proactively seek to structure and coordinate care in home environments and improve health outcomes while constraining health care expenditures. Core elements are: 1. a well-coordinated and proactive approach to health and social care needs; 2. patient-centredness by involving older people in decision-making and planning their care process, and by taking their individual needs into account; 3. (simultaneous) delivery of multiple interventions; 4. involvement of professionals from multiple disciplines. Integrated care will be improved by developing robust strategies that initially draw on the principles of the Chronic Care Model (CCM). Older people are defined as European citizens aged 65 and older with multiple health and social care needs. The focus is on this age group as complexity of care generally increases with age. To fulfil this aim, we will: 1. Identify established integrated care initiatives and conduct baseline assessments to examine their patient-centredness, prevention orientation, efficiency, resilience to crises, safety and sustainability; 2. Improve established integrated care initiatives based on the outcomes of the baseline assessments in co-creation with local key stakeholders and implement these improvements; 3. Evaluate the implementation process and identify how the established integrated care initiatives have improved; 4. Assess the applicability and adaptability of improved integrated care initiatives; 5. design and implement dissemination strategies.

Adolescent young carers (AYCs) are young people (15-17 years old) providing significant or substantial care, assistance or support to other family members. The phenomenon is highly relevant across Europe, albeit specific data, awareness and supports are not frequently available. Taking on a caring role constitutes a relevant risk factor for the occurrence of both immediate and long-term problems in AYCs’ mental health, well-being and development, as well as for their transitions to adulthood, social inclusion, education and employability. The goal of the project is to strengthen the resilience of AYCs, improve their mental health and well-being, and mitigate the negative influences of psychosocial and environmental factors. The project develops an innovative framework of primary prevention interventions to be tested and adapted in six European countries (Italy, Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom) at different stages of awareness and development of services for AYCs. The project has three specific objectives: (1) to systematise knowledge on AYCs; (2) to co-design, test and deliver psychosocial interventions in six countries; (3) to evaluate what works and provide knowledge translation actions at national, European and international levels. The project adopts an interdisciplinary approach by complementing expertise and longstanding experience of partners. The consortium includes Eurocarers members, research and carers organisations, working together with and for AYCs. AYCs will be continuously involved in the project – together with other stakeholders – via national Blended Learning Networks, user groups, workshops, and in an International Advisory and Ethics Board. The project will have international impact, improving AYCs’ mental health and well-being, educational outcomes, transition, employability and social inclusion, as well as creating evidence-based practices, to improve health equity and societal benefits.