E-health for Senior Care Access at Home & Rural Areas

On January 22, an online workshop was organised as part of the CARES project, titled "How can e-health improve the access to healthcare and well-being of older adults at home and in rural/deprived areas?". The session brought together approximately 40 to 50 participants, including CARES project partners and their local stakeholders. The participants had the opportunity to get a deeper knowledge in how the policy instruments tackle the topic in different regional contexts and how the work is carried out from policy to practice.
After a brief introduction outlining the challenges and opportunities for e-health in rural areas and at home for the older adults and the role of public policies, the workshop was divided into two parts. The first part consisted of presentations of 3 public policies and case studies, followed by a time for exchange and discussion between participants.

Workshop highlights
Policy approaches from 3 CARES partners
3 project partners presented their regional approaches to show how they are using e-health in their public policies to provide access to healthcare in rural/deprived areas and at home for the older adults:

• Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, France: presentation by Erika Jouhet, Head of the Health and Silver Economy Unit at the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region
• Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship, Poland: presentation by Paweł Rabiej, an external expert from Korczak University - Academy of Applied Science
• Aragón Healthcare Service (SALUD), Spain: presentation by Mayte Hurtado, Project Manager at Aragón Healthcare Service

After each presentation the participants also had time for asking questions to each presenter.

Time for discussion and exchange between participants
The second part of the workshop was an interactive discussion where all participants were divided in small groups to facilitate interactive discussions. The participants had in this part an opportunity to share their thoughts about what they have heard from the different countries as well their experiences how this is addressed in their own policies and how this is made into practice.

Takeaways
The discussions and exchanges throughout the workshop enabled us to realise that although our systems are organised differently and we don’t have the same territorial characteristics, we share many common challenges and it’s interesting to compare and see how each of us is tackling these challenges in our own territory and in our own policies. It is indeed interesting to question one's own model in order to improve it. Among the common challenges we share and which were discussed during the workshop: the lack of healthcare professionals and the lack of interoperability of tools (many e-health tools are created unilaterally and without consulting the needs of carers and the older adults - there is a real need to work with carers on the tools so that they can be used and disseminated throughout the region).

“The most valuable conclusion of the workshop is that successful implementation of e-health requires a holistic approach, taking into account both technological and social, as well as organizational aspects. It is important to include more in the region's development strategy issues related to supporting innovation and implementing digital solutions, such as telemedicine and telecare, while taking into account inequalities in access to health services, especially in rural areas. Cross-sectoral cooperation of decision-making bodies at all levels and training of professionals in the use of digital tools are also key. In addition, it is necessary to update the form and scope of telecare and telemedicine providers with the current challenges and needs of seniors in mind. Therefore, with long-term planning, strategies should be flexibly adjusted to meet changing needs.”
Magdalena Gromadzka, Junior specialist, Pomorskie Voivodeship