Catalonia is again awarded the European distinction as a region of reference for active and healthy ageing

The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing, an initiative promoted by the European Commission, has awarded the AHA Reference Site distinction to 65 regions in Europe. They include Catalonia, which has confirmed its status with the highest rating. The distinction recognises the joint work between the Department of Health, the Department of Social Rights and the rest of the organisations in the Catalan coalition to advance the development of innovative, creative and applicable digital and technological solutions to improve the lives and health of the elderly.

“The reaccreditation of Reference Site Catalonia is an outstanding milestone that highlights the joint effort and necessary alignment between actors in the field of health and social welfare to promote active and healthy ageing,” explained Eugeni Fernández , Director of the TIC Salut Social Foundation. He added, “It is an opportunity to share and spread the Catalan model in Europe, especially in the area of integrated social and health care.”

The foundation’s director collected the distinction this week in Brussels, together with Joan Carles Contel, a member of the Strategic Directorate of Integrated Care at the Directorate General of Health Planning and Research at the Department of Health, who actively participated in the reaccreditation process. Mr Contel stressed that “interdepartmental collaboration has made it possible to obtain this reaccreditation, since the creation of the future Integrated Social and Health Care Agency is one of the key, differentiating aspects of Catalonia as a reference site”. 

Collaboration with the local world is also one of the highlights of Reference Site Catalonia this time around, as pointed out by Jordi Amblàs, Director of the Integrated Care Strategy of the Department of Health, and Conxita Barbeta, Integrated Care Manager at the Department of Social Rights: “Both the territorial dynamics of integrated social and health care that are already being deployed, and the future agency, must necessarily involve all the competent administrations: the Department of Social Rights, the Department of Health and all local bodies”. They thus agree that “the great challenge is to be able to rethink and transform ourselves as a system, in a process of shared cocreation—also with organisations and professionals—that makes people the real protagonists in the care process”.

Catalan Coalition for Active and Healthy Ageing

As a requirement to obtain the AHA Reference Site distinction, all regions had to form a coalition based on the quadruple helix model with government representatives, health and care providers, policy makers, research institutions, academic bodies, industry, civil society and patients, both regionally and locally.

Reference Site Catalonia is coordinated by the TIC Salut Social Foundation and made up of the Department of Health and the Department of Social Rights of Catalonia, Barcelona City Council , the University Institute for Primary Care Research Jordi Gol (IDIAP Jordi Gol), Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, the BCN Health Hub , the Health and Ageing Foundation of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona University and Eurecat.

Next steps

In the coming weeks, the TIC Salut Social Foundation will bring together all parts of the coalition to review the specific coordination actions defined in the reaccreditation framework. The planned actions in the Catalan region focus on two main aspects: on the one hand, developing models of integrated social and health care in the home, residential and also mental health areas; and on the other hand, designing systems to share information between the health and social spheres to be able to carry out personalised monitoring and control of citizens’ well-being and the use of resources.

Currently, more than 1,300,000 people over the age of 65 who live in Catalonia have some type of chronic illness. In the near future, it is predicted that more than two million people over the age of 65 will be able to benefit from the implementation of innovative solutions aimed at promoting active and healthy ageing.