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Help Wanted?

Providing and Paying for Long-Term Care

image of Help Wanted?

This book examines the challenges countries are facing with regard to providing and paying for long-term care. With populations ageing and the need for long-term care growing rapidly, this book looks at such issues as: future demographic trends, policies to support family carers, long-term care workers, financing arrangements, long-term care insurance, and getting better value for money in long-term care. 

 

“WHO recognizes that long-term care represents a major challenge for all countries in the world, with important implications for economic development and for the health and well-being of older people. This well-documented book provides a comparative analysis of the common challenges and diverse solutions OECD countries are adopting to respond to the growing demand for long-term care services, and particularly its implications for financing and labour markets.  It provides much needed evidence to guide policy makers and individuals.”

-Dr John Beard, Director, Department of Ageing and Life Course,

World Health Organization

 

“This carefully researched book offers invaluable data and insights into the organization and financing of long-term care in OECD countries.  The book is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in international long-term care”.



-Dr. Joshua M. Wiener, Distinguished Fellow and Program Director

of RTI’s Aging, Disability, and Long-Term Care Program, United States

English Also available in: French

How to Prepare for the Future Long-term Care Workforce?

Although the effects of the economic crisis may mitigate shortages of LTC workers in the near future, an integrated approach is required to prepare for the LTC workforce in the longer term. Measures can be targeted at education, recruitment and retention, as well as at job content, productivity and quality. These can cover subsectors (home care, day care, residential care) but could also take the form of integrated sector approaches. Furthermore, for different categories of workers (nurses, lower-level workers), specific policies may be required, as for nurses an LTC career often is not a natural choice, while for lower-level workers LTC jobs are often not perceived as a “profession” but as “dead end job”, with few options for progressing other than finding a job elsewhere. This can lead to high turnover and limited job retention, with subsequent high cost for employers, public finances, those in need of care and their families. Potential measures look at valuing LTC work and the workforce and may require substantial change in the organisation and management of care. Moreover, while in some countries foreign-born workers will represent sizable shares of the LTC workforce, there may be questions about the sustainability of such an approach. This chapter explores policies to improve inflows, retention, and productivity of LTC workers.

English Also available in: French

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