Advancing Integrated Long-Term Care in Europe: The Laurel Approach to Evidence-Based Policy through the FLINT Framework and Field Case Studies

Background: Europe faces growing demand for long-term care due to population ageing and increased longevity among individuals with chronic conditions and disabilities. Ensuring affordable, high-quality, person-centred, and community-based care, while addressing gender and regional inequalities, remains a common challenge for EU Member States. The EU-funded Project Laurel addresses this challenge by developing actionable policy measures to support effective and innovative integrated long-term care (I-LTC) solutions that promote equity, quality, and sustainability across Europe.

 

Approach: Drawing on a rapid review, the project developed the European Framework for Long-term Integrated Care Services (FLINT), a policy tool structured around six domains: People and Communities, Workforce and Service Delivery, Organisation of Care, ICT and Systems, Finance, and Governance. Building on this foundation, Laurel launched a European field study to map and assess I-LTC initiatives. Consortium partners identified initiatives that enhance integration between health and social care through coordination mechanisms such as case management, multidisciplinary teams, and shared care planning.

A mixed-methods approach was employed to investigate stakeholder perspectives on I-LTC. A total of 64 surveys were administered to both professional stakeholders (e.g. health and social care practitioners) and non-professional stakeholders (e.g. informal carers and community actors). To enrich the analysis, 15 focus groups were conducted with care recipients, informal carers, and care providers. These groups brought together diverse experiences, facilitating a deeper examination of survey findings and the collaborative identification of priorities for policy and system improvement.

 

 

 

Results: Preliminary analysis indicates shared priorities across groups, particularly the need for strengthened workforce support, clearer governance frameworks, and enhanced access to digital tools. At the same time, notable variations emerged across several of the domains examined, including coordination gaps, digital exclusion, and gender-based differences. These initial findings suggest that participatory, person-centred approaches are effective in identifying actionable priorities and context-sensitive pathways for system improvement.

 

Implications: By linking evidence with practice, Project Laurel offers policymakers a practical framework for assessing and improving I-LTC systems. Its inclusive, comparative methodology facilitates the identification of context-specific priorities while promoting cross-country learning. In so doing, the project contributes directly to EU objectives for more equitable, gender-sensitive, and sustainable care systems, reinforcing the transition towards person-centred, community-based models of care that leave no one behind.