Projects

In compliance with the social service law, the care allowance belongs to people who primarily due to their unfavourable state of health are dependent on other person’s care and is intended for the provision of this care. The procedure assessing the degree of the applicant’s dependence, which precedes the decision on the care-allowance granting, is relatively complicated and implies two risks: 1/ granting the allowance to a person who does not need it (i.e. waste of funds); 2/ not granting the allowance to a person who is really dependent on other people’s assistance, which results in worsening the dependent person’s care and quality of life.

The project focuses on an in-depth analysis of the process assessing the dependence degree, namely on the role of the social worker assessing the applicant’s life situation and the role of treating and assessment-providing physicians in the care allowance granting process. Qualitative research methods were employed to analyse particularly formal and informal procedures used in the social examination and methods of communication among the social worker, the treating physician and the assessment-providing physician and other potential stakeholders of the dependence assessment process. The project also includes recommendations addressed to the MoLSA, with the aim to set optimal processes for assessing the individual life situation to make a decision on granting the care allowance.