Analysis of the formulation of policies on aging in plans for social and health care and care of the elderly in autonomous communities in Spain

OBJECTIVE: To describe and compare the formulation of policies on aging in the autonomous communities of Spain available in 2002. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The formulation of policies on aging in autonomous communities that published a specific plan on the care of the elderly or a social and health care plan that included elderly care were compared with a standard. RESULTS: In 2002, seven autonomous communities had a document with the above-mentioned characteristics. Six of these were social and health care plans that included a specific section on the care of the elderly; the Canary Islands had a plan for the care of the elderly in primary care. Differences were found in the number of interventions proposed by each autonomous community, ranging between 14 (Catalonia) and 44 (Cantabria) out of the 62 proposed in the standard. Cantabria and Extremadura were the only autonomous communities that established interventions in all the possible areas. Wide variability was found in the plans, depending on their orientation toward an individual and treatment focus (Extremadura) or toward a social and preventive focus (Cantabria). CONCLUSIONS: The number of proposals in the various plans was lower that that in the standard used for comparison. In general, the plans focused on the later phases of dependency and on the immediate setting of the elderly.