BetterCare Podcast

The world's ageing population continues to grow. In Europe, the number of people aged 60 and over is expected to reach 1.4 billion by 2030. It will double by 2050, according to World Health Organization. Challenges, particularly in the health sector, arise from this reality. A large percentage of elder people is living with multiples chronic diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, o dementia, and they need safety care at home. Informal caregivers, primarily women and an increasing number of untrained men, are providing care at home without an adequate training and committing avoidable mistakes that can cause harm. In this context, the Bettercare project has been launched. It is a European research network funded by COST, European Cooperation in Science and Technology. It has been created to respond to the growing demands coming from ageing population across Europe.

Ensuring safe care at home is the main goal of Bettercare. And informal caregivers are the principal piece of the puzzle, but not the only one. Health care at home requires a collaborative approach that prioritizes a secure and supportive relationship between caregivers and recipients. An approach that includes an educational dimension, training and qualification programmes, access to technology to enhance safety in the home and mental and phychosocial support. Two experts from BetterCare explain how to achieve it in this episode.

Informal caregivers play a critical role in supporting individuals at home. And still, this essential service is often ignored. Strengthening and empowering the resilience of informal caregivers is, as you have just heard, an obligation. The question now is who should help them in this challenge and how?

Caring errors at home are far more widespread than imagined. Medication-related ones are the most common, but they are not the only type. Not only do they affect to recipients but caregivers as well. The emotional impact of making mistakes may lead to futher errors. That is why prevention, support and rehabilitation are essential in addressing this issue. The BetterCare Project seeks to raise awareness about home care by exploring key issues related to it and assessing its impact on patient safety. It further addresses preventive strategies and interventions to reduce the risk of errors in home care settings. This episode explores how informal caregivers can be effectively supported in the wake of care- related mistakes This is the focus of this episode; exploring how a framework can be designed to support home carers after mistakes occur.