Abstract

According to the European Commission’s recent policy initiative on social investment, Danish long-term care for older people offers new and innovative perspectives on ageing and the management of the risks associated therewith. Other EU member states are thus encouraged to “get to Denmark” and to develop their long-term care in accordance with the Danish approach. With the introduction of reablement policies (rehabilitering), Denmark has, according to the European Commission, identified a viable way to address some of the problems associated with the presumed increase in need for long-term care in ageing societies. The change from a so-called passive to a more “active” approach emphasizes an overall strategy of “repairing,” by offering short-term intensive physical training interventions instead of only compensatory care and assistance, as this should ideally enable the individual to postpone and reduce the need for care. This also ensures a more sustainable long-term care system in a time where otherwise the population of older people will grow, invariably increasing the cost for long-term care. This talk will discuss the perspective of social investment and how the policy of reablement in long-term care falls within this, before investigating whether the promises of reablement for creating a more sustainable long-term care system are realistic.