The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a hard blow on long-term care facilities in Europe and the European Commission is considering various solutions to help them and their beneficiaries, EC Vice-President Dubravka Suica said on Thursday.

Suica on Thursday took part in a debate on the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on long-term care facilities in Europe, held at a European Parliament plenary session in Brussels.

“Long-term care systems need revamping to better prepare them for the rising long-term care needs and future health crises,” she said.

“We have seen how care-workers and those receiving care have been particularly exposed to the virus and its devastating consequences. This is of great concern to us. We need to improve the protection of the most vulnerable in our societies,” Suica said, stressing that the EC is actively working on that.

“We are listening to the sector and are assessing the different instruments and possible solutions to support both providers and users of these services,” she added.

Suica said that at the beginning of 2021 the EC would release a Green Paper on Ageing, ” with the aim of launching a wide debate to discuss the long-term impacts of ageing, care and pensions, active ageing and the capacity of social protection systems to deal with an ageing population.”

“Based on the outcomes of the consultation the Commission could be in a better position to consider what further initiatives could be taken on long-term care,” she said.

Croatia’s MEPs of the European People’s Party (EPP) Tomislav Sokol and Suncana Glavak also participated in the debate.

Sokol: EU can aid facilities

Sokol called for urgent improvement of conditions in long-term care facilities through EU instruments as the number of fatalities among their users was very high.

In European countries, deaths in users of long-term care facilities make up 37 to even 66 percent of all deaths involving Covid-19, he said.

Croatia has only about 37,000 beds in long-term care facilities for nearly a million people over the age of 65.

Sokol said that EU instruments could greatly improve conditions in long-term care facilities and reduce differences in health care quality in the EU.

Glavak: The elderly are living in isolation

Glavak said that the elderly were living in social isolation during the pandemic.

A World Health Organisation (WHO) report on the impact of Covid-19 has shown that abuse of elderly people has suddenly increased.

The elderly are victims of social isolation. We must enable them to cope better with the pandemic. I hope the European Commission will take this into consideration in the Green Paper on Ageing, said Glavak, as carried by EPP press release.