Planning and Providing Care: The Informal Caregiver’s role

Informal caregivers are already a fundamental pillar of outpatient care in the European Union as they ensure around 60% of the care provided to the elderly at home, and effectively contribute to health systems costs control.

Even though the Informal Caregiver Statute bill has already been approved in Portugal, it is important to reflect and debate on how it will become operational in real life. It is then significant to discuss and reflect on: the structure of elderly care and the relationship between formal and informal care; the profiles of informal caregivers and both their training and institutional support needs; the social recognition of this role, its placement in the labor law and on how to guarantee the Government’s responsibility.

The 8th session of the Interactions Symposium will focus on the topic of informal caregivers, outlining their role in providing the elderly with domiciliary care.