Healthcare

Biography

Biography: Ralf Tebest

Abstract

The counseling infrastructure for elderly and vulnerable people in Germany needs to be improved in terms of transparency, interconnection and coordination of its services. According to the German Care Reform 2008, care support centers, known as “Pflegestützpunkte,” should solve this problem by putting all relevant counseling services under one roof. Until now, 500 care support offer their services. The objective of the study was to evaluate all 48 care support centers established in Baden-Württemberg 5 years after the German Care Reform came into force. Firstly, the documentation of all 48 care support centers from the third largest federal state of Germany was analyzed. Moreover, interviews on the topic of the underlying concepts of their organization were conducted with employees of the care support centers. The results show a wide range of services from “light” (minimally work intensive) practical assistance to promote self-help, up to comprehensive case management. The wide variety of counseling services offered also shows that these care support centers can meet a lot of different needs and requirements of their clients. It becomes clear that the services offered are used by people of all ages, who are already in need of care or who are trying to prevent this need from occurring. Nevertheless, results also show that not all goals of the care support centers were achieved. It remains unclear which role the care support centers play in counseling related to health and long term care insurances and similar services. The need for further development should be considered when the intended enlargement of care support centers is taking place.