Long-Term Care Quality Assurance Policies in European Countries

This report analyses the quality assurance policies for long-term care (LTC) in the following countries: Austria, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. First, we discuss quality assurance in LTC by analysing: the dimensions of quality, the policy frameworks for quality in LTC, the different levels of development of LTC quality policies at the international, national, organisational, and individual levels. Second, we describe the methodology for collecting and analysing data on quality policies in the selected countries. We then report and discuss the results, identifying four clusters of countries based on quality policies and indicators for LTC. These clusters are compared to the clusters identified in WP1 of the ANCIEN project. Policy recommendations are proposed. Finally, country profiles based on survey data are included. Extended country reports on Austria, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Slovenia (forthcoming) will accompany this document.