Dependency and Elderly Care: The Cost of the Long-Term Care System in the Context of the SDGs

Belén Díaz Díaz (), Rebeca García-Ramos, Carlos López Gutiérrez and Andrea Pérez
Additional contact information
Belén Díaz Díaz: Santander Financial Institute (SANFI), Universidad de Cantabria, 39005 Santander, Spain
Rebeca García-Ramos: Santander Financial Institute (SANFI), Universidad de Cantabria, 39005 Santander, Spain
Carlos López Gutiérrez: Santander Financial Institute (SANFI), Universidad de Cantabria, 39005 Santander, Spain
Andrea Pérez: Santander Financial Institute (SANFI), Universidad de Cantabria, 39005 Santander, Spain

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 21, 1-14

Abstract: The rapid ageing of populations around the world is creating complex challenges for national governments. The establishment of sustainable and equitable long-term care systems for old and dependent people is one of the main issues of social policy in developed countries. The aim of this work is to define a cost model for residential and day care centres for dependent persons in Cantabria (Spain). The cost model will make it possible to establish the theoretical cost of attending to the needs of the different types of dependent persons in the different types of care centres, and the methodology used could be extrapolated to other regions. The daily cost per user for elderly residential care is €53.72. The cost per user in elderly day centres (5 days) is 32.56 euros. In residential centres for people with disabilities, the values range between €47.41 and €75.25, depending on the category of the centre. In three categories of centres, the public price is not enough to cover the cost (physical disability, intellectual disability, mental illness—low care); therefore, the administration should reconsider their public prices for these kinds of centres if they want to really contribute to the sustainability of residential care centres. This research will have important implications for policy makers in the context of the fulfillment of the SDGs and where better support for old and disabled people and their carers, as well as fair and efficient financing of social care services, are essential to address the current and future challenges of dependency.

Keywords: dependency; elderly; long-term care; costs; Sustainable Development Goals; public policies; human rights (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/21/15674/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/21/15674/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:21:p:15674-:d:1275105

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().