The INTERLINKS project:
Health systems and long-term care for older persons in Europe: Modelling the INTERfaces and LINKS between prevention, rehabilitation, quality of services and informal care

Laure Com-Ruelle, Michel Naïditch (IRDES), Kai Leichsenring & al. (Leader from the European Centre
for Social Welfare Policy and Research in Vienna), and 15 other research organisations from
14 Member States.

In 2007, the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research has co-ordinated the submission
of a research proposal, answering to the Second Call of the EU Commission’s Seventh Framework
Programme n Health Research.
The proposal was evaluated very positively by independent peers in December 2007. By April 2008,
the Commission eventually invited the Consortium, consisting of the European Centre as Co-ordinator
and 15 other research organisations from 14 Member States, to enter into so-called Grant Agreement
Negotiations. These negotiations could be finished by autumn and in case of success the project might
start by January 2009.

The objective of this 3-year project is to construct and validate a general model to describe and analyse
long-term care (LTC) systems for older people from a European perspective. The particular aspects
of the different emerging national models that currently address long-term care needs in Europe will
be used to show how the links to health care services, the quality of LTC services, the incentives
for prevention and rehabilitation, and the support for informal carers can be governed and financed
to enhance structures, processes and outcomes of LTC systems.
Based on the assumption that LTC systems in Europe have only started to develop at the boundaries
of health and social care, the project will focus on the elaboration of concepts, indicators and models
for policies and practice at the interfaces and links between health systems and LTC. Good practice
determinants will be identified and validated across countries. A European ‘state of the art’ model
for describing and analysing long-term care provision will thus be constructed as an analytical toolbox
that takes into account pathways of reform policies at any stage of a national LTC system’s development.
The project outcome will guide policy analysis and design, permit comparison and will substantially broaden
the scientific base that supports the Member States to better organise their health and LTC systems.
It will also integrate the professional and the non-professional domain with inputs from a wide range
of stakeholders by means of National Expert Panels and European-level Sounding Board Conferences.

The project will be carried out by a consortium of 17 partners from universities, national and international
research institutes with international and interdisciplinary expertise, also in cross-national research.
The consortium represents 14 Member States covering different welfare regimes and geographical domains
to allow for the regional and developmental, path-dependent differences to be addressed.

More details on the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research's site

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