Enabling Inter-Municipal Shared Service Provision in Lithuania
Proposed Legal and Institutional Framework and Piloting Approach in Tauragė+ Functional Zone
Lithuania is experiencing rapid demographic change, with the population ageing and significantly shrinking in recent decades. This trend has put pressure on the provision of public services, especially at the municipal level, and is expected to continue in the coming years. Ongoing efforts are made by Lithuania to improve the delivery of municipal services with the aim to mitigate territorial disparities and foster social inclusion. In this perspective, shared public service provision is viewed as a way to enhance the accessibility, affordability and quality of essential public services. This report provides recommendations and an action plan to address challenges inherent to the legal, fiscal and institutional frameworks for shared municipal service provision in Lithuania, while taking stock of these different challenges. The report also provides two roadmaps for piloting primary healthcare and long-term care services in Tauragė+ functional zone (Jurbarkas, Pagėgiai, Šilalė, Tauragė municipalities) through shared municipal service provision. The report draws lessons from peer country experiences, and in particular Finland, where inter-municipal cooperation has been used successfully for decades.
Establishing the framework for piloting shared municipal services provision in primary healthcare and long-term care services in Tauragė+ functional zone
The chapter provides an overview of the main challenges for PHC and LTC services in Tauragė+ functional zone, which is a voluntary initiative between the four municipalities of the area with the aim to provide an integrated response to common issues. As part of the selected areas for co-operation within the functional zone, PHC and LTC services have been selected to be piloted in partnership with the four municipalities, the MoH and MSSL. Two roadmaps are presented in the chapter to provide practical steps for policymakers and relevant stakeholders at the municipal level to pilot the services in the functional zone, and thus to improve the availability, accessibility, affordability and acceptability of PHC and LTC services.
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