Ageing is one of the greatest social and economic challenges of the 21st century for European societies. AHA (Active and Healthy Ageing) is 25% accessibility and 75% e-health and healthcare/care. European care and healthcare systems will need to be re-structured to be able to assure sustainable, effective and patient/user centered care and healthcare services. e-health (including m-health, telecare, etc.) will take a leading role, and will need to be supported by the semantic interoperability between the different health, care and healthcare stakeholders. This will also be enabled by basic issues such as the Electronic Health Record.

Technical interoperability between the different devices/platforms involved also plays a strategical role. CEN – the European Committee for Standardization and CENELEC- the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization - thanks to their network of national members, have the capacity to engage the relevant stakeholders at National and European level, and to lead the relevant harmonization work.

The importance of creating accessible or ‘age friendly environment’ to enable people to live an independent life for as long as possible was also recognized at European policy level. Active and Healthy Ageing also offers Europe an opportunity to establish itself as a leader capable of providing innovative and suitable solutions, answering the needs of the ageing population. By addressing this new market, European Standardization is taking important steps to support industries and organizations towards a ‘Silver economy era’.  Accessibility is one of its essential components where correlated Standards are  powerful tools to make products and services accessible to as many consumers as possible, regardless of their age and special needs.

CEN and CENELEC are developing a standard that describes how the goods manufacturing industry as well as public and private services can consider accessibility following a Design for All approach so as to meet the needs of the widest range of users, including older persons (Mandate M/473); a standard for functional requirements for accessibility in the build environment (M/420) and a standard for eAccessibility. The publication of EN 301 549 on ICT accessibility is also reinforcing and supporting the empowerment of older people in our digital society. Furthermore CEN Technical Committees are also working on ‘Assistive products for persons with disability’ , Service Chain for Social Care Alarms’, ‘Quality of care for older people, ‘Health informatics’, Ergonomics’.

The OK SENIOR Quality Mark is a program of the certification of personnel, services and products for the elderly.

Thanks to the introduction of the OK SENIOR mark, senior citizens and their families will be able to quickly identify verified and supervised services that are recorded in a national register of certified goods and services.

The certification system OK SENIOR was prepared by Healthy Ageing LLC in cooperation with National Institute od Silver Economy (Krajowy Instytut Gospodarki Senioralnej), TÜV Rheinland Poland and Public Consulting Group. The strategic Partner of the project is The Polish Promotional Emblem Foundation “Poland Now” (“Teraz Polska”).

OK SENIOR will bring the opportunity to positively distinguish and show the potential of the European market of services for the elderly. As well as this, the system will help senior citizens in making consumer choices.

The scientifically developed quality system serves as the basis for the creation of the criteria of measurability and the awarding of the OK SENIOR certificate in the following areas:

• A quality management system in short- and long-term care,

• Senior’s Assistant – training and certificates for carers,


• Senior citizens as consumers of goods and services.

The OK SENIOR Quality Mark makes it easier to choose an appropriate service or product that is tailored to the needs of senior citizens

and indicates the highest quality.

• SAFE - It guarantees the meeting of the highest safety standards for elderly persons.
• COMPREHENSIBLE - It is easy to understand for people with limited sensory capabilities (those who are visually or hearing impaired) and is user-friendly.
• ACCESSIBLE - It is easily accessible and has the best quality-to-price-ratio of certified products and/or services.
• NEEDED - It addresses the real needs of the elderly and protects them against abuse.

We are also creating on our website a catalog with all certified products and services which will help in nearby future to quickly find all best quality goods for elderly people.

Opportunities for companies which provide services and products for elderly people:

SALES SUPPORT:

• Additional opportunities for the promotion of a product / service following the award of the certificate
• Sustainable market edge over competitors o Easier choice of goods and services

IMAGE CREATION:

• A more favourable perception of goods and services means the creation of a positive image among customers
• Customer trust translates into their loyalty to the brand

DISTINCTION

• Certified services and business processes stand out from the crowd
o The OK SENIOR Quality Mark promotes certified products, services and quality management systems in elderly care and presents them in
• a national register of certified goods and services

Do you, too, find it difficult to relate to reports about weak productivity growth in the world economy due to aging populations and increasing populism and protectionism?
http://news.cision.com/se/business-sweden/r/ihallande-motvind-i-varldsekonomin,c2087424  

Since June 2016 Projektsupport S-O collaborate with the Swedish national register SeniorAlert at Qulturum in Jönköping,  to co-create ROTATIONSHIP® in a new approach toward a Population Health, with additional Relative Experienced Quality of life,  workarounds and energized through open co-learning and co-design.
Read more here http://www.rotationship.com/en-GB/what´s-on--32326807
http://plus.rjl.se/infopage.jsf?childId=21157&nodeId=43617
http://plus.rjl.se/index.jsf?nodeId=43080&nodeType=13​

ROTATIONSHIP® is a new neutral coordinative service method to skills supply by co-learning and co-creative learning processes. ROTATIONSHIP® with a common defined theme is strongly connected to a clear value policy - welcoming other value adding actors to join in various ways.

In collaboration with Anna Trinks, the holder of SeniorAlert at Qulturum in Jönköping, Sweden, we would be more than happy if we could inspire municipalities in other countries to open co-learning ROTATIONSHIP® in co-creative learning processes for a zero vision of health damages in healthcare for elderly and, of course, for prevention and healthy ageing.

We believe in a systematic way of working to strengthen and to attract co-workers within health, healthcare and social care, through co-creative learning and to open up the possibilities in building trust in working teams in new ways of working and in meeting new techniques. When it comes to independent living challenges, most sectors are involved.

model_sbirt_toward_a_population_health_approach_plus_relative_experienced_q_of_life_1_1.pdf

Digital support for all: means that support is given to anyone especially for the ones not able to access or use digital services in society e.g. health care.

The Silver Economy in Europe

The silver economy is the part of the economy that includes relevant economic activities for elder European citizens (health, healthcare, nutrition, leisure, transportation, education, employment, etc.). The silver economy is much related with the European demographic trends and the effects of an ageing population in the quality of life and in the economy from a broad perspective.

An ageing society can be considered as a sign of social and economic advancement and comes associated with new opportunities for economic, social and cultural development.

Currently, the silver economy is relatively unknown, but in the coming years will be a major fraction of the development of the European Union.

The European Commission (EC) is studying ongoing and foreseen initiatives and ideas carried out in this field. The diverse sectors silver economy covers are: 1) connectivity and social participation; (2) entertainment, culture and tourism; (3) financial services; (4) food and nutrition; (5) health and care; (6) living and building; (7) mobility and transport; (8) physical and cognitive abilities; (9) safety and security; (10) work and training, among others.

Regarding the part concerning health, the silver economy would include solutions to help healthcare, preventive and therapeutic (including palliative care) activities, as well as activities that help with personal hygiene. It also includes the use of new technologies (telemedicine, telecare, mHealth and robotics).

Therefore, from the General Pharmaceutical Council of Spain, conSIGUE Generalization of the implementation of Medicines Review with Follow-up Service can be used as proposal for the EC.

Introduction

Seniors with chronic diseases use approximately the 70% of healthcare resources in Spain. The number of over 65s polymedicated patients is greater than 11% in our country, and reaches a 40% in people who live in institutions. All of it, is conditioning a significant increase in the occurrence of adverse effects arising from the use of medicines and, consequently, an increase in complications, hospital admissions and emergency room visits.

On the other hand, the community pharmacy is experiencing a shift towards a more patient-centered pharmacy, with the provision of professional healthcare services that allow improving the process and results derived from the use of the medicine but also to achieve a reduction of costs arising from the use of healthcare services.

There are many studies that have been carried out to design and assess the effectiveness of different professional pharmaceutical services in recent years, however, the degree of implementation of them in the daily activity of a community pharmacy is variable.

The Medicines Review with Follow-up Service (MRFU) is the professional service that aims at drug related problems (DRP), for the prevention and resolution of negative outcomes associated with medication (NOM). It is a service that involves a commitment and which must be provided in a continued, systematic and documented manner, in collaboration with the patient and other healthcare professionals, in order to achieve concrete results that improve the quality of life of the patient.

Role of the pharmacist

Community Pharmacy is immersed in an evolutionary process that responds to the health needs of the patients, which is a healthcare advancement through the provision of pharmaceutical services. Services offered by the community pharmacist that improve patient’s health outcomes and provide savings to the health system.

Pharmacists are showing progress in their more clinical role, showing responsibility and knowledge of the needs of the population. Pharmacists are also participating in the generation of evidence for these new services patient-centered, improving knowledge, adherence and health outcomes.

The network of community pharmacies offers to the health administration not only a network of healthcare facilities but also a network of close and accessible professionals throughout the country.

conSIGUE Programme

conSIGUE is a programme that integrates a research strategy with a political and communication strategy from a practical point of view.

Since 2009, conSIGUE Programme has been studying in elderly and polymedicated population at community pharmacy level, 1) the impact of the MRFU service on the clinical, economic and humanistic outcomes of patients, and 2) the implementation of the service in the daily practice of the Spanish community pharmacies.

The first phase was developed in 2009-2013 to know the impact of the community pharmacist intervention through the MRFU service at clinical, economic and humanistic level in elderly patients (65 or older) and polymedicated (5 or more medicines used continuously for six or more months).

In this phase, called conSIGUE Impact, 178 community pharmacies, 250 pharmacists and 1.403 patients (715 comparison group and 688 group intervention) got involved.

The average age of the patients was 75.13 years (SD: 6.53) with an average of 4.65 (SD: 1.66) health problems, where 1.09 (SD: 1.22) were uncontrolled. The average number of medicines used per patient was 7.56 (SD: 2.44).

The provision of the MRFU service during six months allowed 1) a significant reduction of 56% in the number of uncontrolled health problems (reduction of 0.44 uncontrolled health problems per patient); (2) a reduction of 49% in the number of patients who referred to go to emergency departments; (3) a reduction of the 55% in the number of patients hospitalized; (4) a 6.6-point improvement in the perceived quality of life; (5) a reduction of 0.15 medicines used per patient.

As regards to the necessary costs for the provision of the service, 279€ / patient / year was calculated, this means 23.25€ / patient / month.

In relation to the pharmacoeconomic analysis, the MRFU service was very cost effective with very low associated expenses in comparison to a very high effectiveness.

In 2013-2015 the work was focused on the development of a programme for the sustainable implementation of the service using and testing a model for implementation (FISpH model) with four stages: exploration, preparation, initial and full implementation, and sustainability.

In the exploration phase, 155 community pharmacies (222 pharmacists) participated. 135 community pharmacies were taken to the preparation phase. During the first month, 85 pharmacies (63%) recruited its first patient (initial implementation) from the third month, a considerable number of community pharmacies were in the full implementation phase (13.3%). In the cut-off of twelve month, 48 (35.5%) community pharmacies were in initial implementation and 74 (54.8%) in full implementation. In the fifteen month cut-off, 59 pharmacies (43.7%) went to initial sustainability, while 16 (11.8%) were in the stage of full implementation and 26 (19.3%) in the initial implementation.

With regard to clinical and humanistic outcomes observed during the implementation phase, noted that at 12 months cut-off, data though similar, were slightly higher than those observed in impact phase.

A third phase of generalization of the implementation of the MRFU service will start in the coming months and last until 2018. The main objective is to expand the implementation of the MRFU service to more Spanish community pharmacies.

The study will have a hybrid design of effectiveness-implementation in which the theoretical framework FISpH (Framework for the Implementation of Services in Pharmacy) will be used and whose population under study will be polymedicated elderly patients with chronic diseases and able to complete the EuroQoL-5D Questionnaire.

silver economy could be the test bed of a renewed economic and management approach, if we dare to clearly identify and possibly prioritize the human and relational dimension over the technical one. It is almost by definition a caring economic and management model which should be fostered, where you may not want to substitue the well trained human caring touch and relation with any sort of machine or device. therefore it should be an highly labour intensive sector, although all the innovations and the advances from e-health to personalized medicine will have a key role to play.

Probably most don't realize, or remember, the many deaths following the heat waves in Europe in 2003, just to mention that case (in France ver 14800 deaths according to INSERM)..Such events, due to the climate change evolution, are bound to be more frequent. At the same time many forget that in most european countries, public housing must have sprinklers in case of fire. The idea is very simple: modify the throtlle of the mandatory sprinkler, to have a second water atomizing throttle. This would, upon activation of  a switch (in future of a remote switch) , send atomized fresh water from above in the room, and refresh the atmosphere, especially for seniors or weak persons. The sprinkler life time anyway is limited and should be limited, so this should happen in connection with a renewal plan. In this way , air temperature would fall by the evaporation effect of the atomized droplets.

The digital active ID can sense and monitor health, location, and movement.

The gathering and processing of these sensed individual human data can help to use pension efficiently.

Those gathered big data can be used to manage medical treatment and living cost by third man/party.