Social Protection Innovative Investment in Long Term Care

Project Information

SPRINT

Grant agreement ID: 649565

DOI

10.3030/649565

Project closed

EC signature date 8 May 2015

Start date 1 June 2015

End date 31 October 2018

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Europe In A Changing World - Inclusive, Innovative And Reflective Societies

Total cost

€ 1 910 536,25

EU contribution

€ 1 910 536,25

Coordinated by

LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SPRINT (Social Protection Innovative Investment in Long Term Care)

Reporting period: 2016-06-01 to 2018-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

As the working-age population shrinks and the retirement age expands, EU countries face the necessary yet demanding task of delivering affordable, good quality long-term care (LTC) in a period of severely constrained resources.

The SPRINT project set out to help address this challenge. Its overall objectives were to investigate how LTC can be located within the concept of social investment as articulated in the European Commission’s Social Investment Package (and accompanying Staff Working Document); identify the opportunities and challenges for social investment in LTC in relation to the current landscape of its organisation and resourcing in Europe; develop methods and instruments for assessing the costs and benefits of social investment in LTC; and offer practical recommendations for further action.

The central conclusion from SPRINT is that a social investment approach has considerable potential whereby decision-makers can improve the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of LTC systems across the EU, with the qualification that a range of additional measures will need to be taken at EU and national levels in order to create more favourable conditions for the implementation of this approach.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The SPRINT project was structured into 6 work packages and the work performed is indicated below in relation to these.

WP1: Project management

WP2: Understanding Substantive and Theoretical Issues in Long-Term Care
• Conceptual Report on long-term care to present a generic conceptual framework to inform analyses in subsequent work packages.
• Glossary - definitions of key concepts and terms in SPRINT, to establish a common vocabulary for the assessment of social investment in LTC across EU countries
• Report on the role of public and private actors in delivering and resourcing LTC.
• Description of the long‐term care resourcing landscape.

WP3: The Institutional Environment of Long-Term Care
• A report described in detail the legal context and extant of social rights of EU citizens to long‐term care services. The report highlighted significant variability of LTC legal structures across EU member states.
• A report on how legal and regulatory frameworks have interacted with other key system characteristics (e.g. nature of care markets, degree of localism) in order to explain differences in patterns of LTC provision and social investment approach.

WP4: Principles for Sustainable Resourcing of Long-Term Care
• Criteria for the assessment of social investments in LTC.
• SPRINT engaged with policy makers and other stakeholders from 7 countries to report on key factors associated with successful investment in LTC services.
• Analysis of existing evidence about the substitution between formal and family/informal care for informing the case for LTC resource allocation.
• Social Return on Investment (SROI) framework for assessing the costs and benefits of LTC investments.

WP5: Toolbox of Social Investment in Long-Term Care
• Feasibility Framework and web-based, interactive tool for informing investment decisions in LTC.
• A report summarising the challenges and possible approaches when assessing the impact of LTC services
• Guide to conceptual and practical issues for the assessment of the societal cost-effectiveness of LTC investments
• A set of policy guidelines and recommendations for strengthening the conditions for application of a social investment approach in LTC

WP6: Dissemination and engagement, including:
• Scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and book form
• Policy Briefs to inform policy makers about social investment in long-term care in Europe
• Presentations of SPRINT findings at international conferences and meetings
• SPRINT-organised events, including a Final Conference hosted by the European Parliament
• Extensive engagement with stakeholders – including policy-makers, academic experts, LTC organisations and service users – through arranged meetings, workshops and research activities.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The work of SPRINT comes at a timely moment, with the current focus on delivering the aspirations of the European Pillar of Social Rights which includes a right to affordable long-term care services of good quality. The contribution of SPRINT has been to further develop the analytical methods and practical tools required for implementation of a social investment approach in LTC.

However, at the same time it clearly emerges from the work of SPRINT that adopting a social investment perspective in long-term care involves particular challenges. SPRINT has identified a set of measures that should be taken at EU and national levels to further develop the necessary conditions for effective implementation of the social investment approach, as outlined below:
• establish a stronger evidence base, especially with a view to achieving a better understanding of the relationship between long-term care services and their outcomes;
• adapt legal and regulatory LTC frameworks, reducing rigidities in the system to maximise the potential benefits of the social investment approach;
• engage with stakeholders so that their input plays a central role in determining the value of social investment;
• build a dedicated social investment infrastructure – a shared resource of assessment methodologies for cost-effective investment in LTC; exploiting innovative mechanisms for mobilising resources for investment that complement public spending; training in necessary analytical skills use of social investment principles and where these are less developed; finally,
• apply and develop existing operational tools that would help facilitate implementation - one example developed by SPRINT researchers is a tool for assessing social investment in LTC, which can be accessed at: http://sprint-project.eu/impact_tool/.

Outputs from SPRINT and further information can be found at: http://sprint-project.eu/.

SPRINT project logo

SPRINT photo1

SPRINT photo2

SPRINT photo3