Wednesday, November 12, 2025.- A care system that puts people at the center, takes into account their wishes and real needs, and allows them the greatest possible autonomy. This is the vision towards which the new care model is moving, in a context where, due to the aging of the population, in the coming years, 14 million people from the baby boom generation will need some kind of support or care.

This was stated at the 10th International Congress on Dependency and Quality of Life by the Secretary of State for Social Rights, María Rosa Martínez Rodríguez; and the Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, in a session where socio-health integration was debated, and which also included Josep Maria Via i Redons, president of the congress; and Carles Campuzano, former Minister of Social Rights and president of the Health Commission of the Parliament of Catalonia.

During their intervention at the Edad&Vida Foundation Congress, the Secretaries of State for Health and Social Rights agreed in pointing out socio-health coordination as an essential element of the new care model advancing in Spain. “If we truly want person-centered, base, and community care, socio-health coordination is fundamental, and that is how we contemplate it in our change of model,” they highlighted.

Both representatives also agreed that socio-health coordination is marked by challenges such as the existence of a single National Health System managed by 17 autonomous communities, and 17 regional social service systems and two autonomous cities. “The difference in power of the two systems is a challenge when establishing dialogue and determining where to reorient care, which is one, but has two dimensions: that of health and that of well-being,” they noted.

Furthermore, they explained the need to mainstream socio-health aspects in all public policies, and to do so “from the values that define us as a society,” from the principles of territoriality and non-fragmentation, recalling that “an important part of current problems in service provision is due to the loss of territoriality and fragmentation between providers.”

In this sense, they explained that the new socio-health coordination framework seeks to build a common base with two objectives: guaranteeing universal and equitable access to services and ensuring territorial equity, adapting models to the particularities of each territory. As fundamental milestones, they highlighted the Deinstitutionalization Strategy, in which socio-health coordination constitutes a key line of work, and the reform of the Dependency Law, aimed at “increasing autonomy, making options more flexible, reducing bureaucracy and ensuring that the system adapts to people, and not the other way around.” “The challenge is for the social and the health sectors to walk together with the same objective: that people maintain their autonomy as long as possible and can live in their environment and in their home,” they concluded.

Investment in care: a benefit for all

On this second day of the congress, the Health Economist from the WHO office in Barcelona, Jonathan Cylus also highlighted the importance of coordination between health care and social care to guarantee that people with care needs are treated in the most appropriate and less intensive and costly environment. In his intervention, he delved into the idea of the “care dividend”, since investing in long-term care not only benefits the people who receive it, but also health systems, economies, households, and society as a whole.

He recalled that population aging increases care needs, even in those countries where citizens age in good health. For this reason, he is in favor of stopping considering long-term care as a cost or a burden, and understanding it as an opportunity.

Investment in long-term care contributes to greater efficiency of health systems, and benefits economies, by allowing people who dedicate themselves to care informally, unpaid, to join their work. In addition, they are positive for households, by financially supporting informal caregivers or reducing direct spending on long-term care. “In short, it is something that benefits society as a whole, strengthening solidarity and social justice, by reducing intergenerational inequalities,” stated Cylus.

There was also space to debate the application of technology in care, an intrinsically human area. “Technology cannot replace the fundamental role of people, but it can play a useful role in improving monitoring in their homes, which could allow them to stay at home longer,” explained Cylus. “Care concerns us all, and solid long-term care systems provide enormous value beyond the people who receive direct attention,” he concluded.

More information: www.edad-vida.org

Co-organizers:

Supported by:

With the collaboration of:

Sponsors:

Collaborators: