On 6 June 2019, in Milan (Italy), AGE Platform Europe organised a workshop at the European Social Services Conference, the biggest European conference in the field of social services. This was the first time over the past years that AGE joined this event, organised by the European Social Network.
Under the title “Promoting the dignity of older people in need of care”, the workshop, organised jointly with the LOC Valuable Care foundation (Netherlands), began with a short presentation of the context of care in Europe – lack of access, weak social protection, low quality of services overall – and the prevalence of elder abuse. The workshop then presented the European Quality Framework for long-term care services and the training materials developed to communicate it and trigger multi-stakeholder discussions around quality and the dignity of those in need of care.
Participants, most of them government officials and managers of social services, took the floor actively. They reflected on the awareness of professionals of the ways in which they can better respect the dignity of older people, and on the role informal carers play in long-term care. They identified situations of neglect that may happen in services and recognised the need for better awareness and more open conversations about dignity in care.
The workshop and bilateral exchanges with participants revealed the great challenge of addressing elder abuse in long-term care in Europe, and the important role ageism plays in the high prevalence of abuse. This was the focus of the press release that we published in order to mark the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, 15 June.
Useful resources
- AGE Platform Europe’s materials on quality care, including the European Quality Framework for long-term care services and training materials.
- European AGE-led events to mark the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day over the past years: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
- AGE Platform Europe position on structural ageism and on the victims’ rights directive.
- #AgeingEqual Campaign blog: ageing-equal.org, and the thematic week on ageism and abuse: https://ageing-equal.org/ageism-and-abuse/
For more information on AGE work on elder abuse, you may contact Borja Arrue, borja.arrue@age-platform.eu
