BUILD is taking on a challenge that touches millions of families: how to organise health and social care around older adults with complex needs in a way that is considerate of individuality, works in real life, and can be sustained by our care and social systems. The project pursues a simple yet ambitious goal: to demonstrate how co-design and participatory methods can be put into practice.
Together with those who experience and shape person-centred integrated long-term care (PC-I-LTC) every day, older people with care needs, informal and formal caregivers, communities, professionals, and policy-makers, we aim to co-create recommendations and initiatives that truly reflect their needs.
Rather than designing solutions from behind a desk, BUILD focuses on active engagement. Through interviews, workshops and discussion rounds, the project gathers lived experiences about what helps and what gets in the way of seamless care. Teams who have successfully implemented PC-I-LTC in different European regions are invited to share their good practices, lessons learned and challenges and solutions for effective implementation. This evidence is then translated into practical recommendations for changes — from how services connect across health and social care, to how to use technology to benefit both older adults with care needs and caregivers, as well as society at large. BUILD takes a holistic view of impact, weighing not just clinical outcomes and financial results but also well-being, dignity, inclusion and the value to families and communities.
Over the course of the project, BUILD is mapping the integrated-care landscape across Europe, identifying what already works, and pinpointing where gaps persist, for example, across regions, between urban and rural areas, different levels of health literacy or along gender and socio-economic lines. All of this comes together in a practical co-design framework and toolbox that can be used to improve PC-I-LTC within the respective European region. One practical result is a glossary of BUILD terms to guide all stakeholders to understand the language of Long-Term Care Systems. This glossary breaks down the key terms BUILD uses, so anyone can follow along, from researchers to caregivers to curious citizens.
With five universities, three research/non-profit institutes and a communications company, BUILD translates robust evidence into practical guidance and tangible change over its three-year span.
For updates and ways to get involved, visit the BUILD website at https://build-project.eu/.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
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