Valencia, Spain
Region profile
The Region of Valencia (East Spain) is one of the 17 Autonomous Communities of Spain, located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. The region is divided into three provinces (Alicante, Castellón and Valencia) and thirty four counties. The largest city in the Region is its capital: Valencia. Region of Valencia has 518 km of Mediterranean coastline and covers 23,259 km² of Spain (4.6% of Spain, 8th) with 5.02 million inhabitants in 2008 (10.6% of Spain, 4th).
In the last years, concentration in the main capitals and its metropolitan areas has considerably augmented, especially in all the coastal cities. Therefore, Valencia's population is nowadays clearly urban and coastal, also influenced by seasonal tourism. In fact, there are 13 towns with more than 50.000 inhabitants.
Valencia is the capital and most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Valencia and the third largest city in Spain, with a population of 814,208 people in 2009. It is the 15th-most populous municipality in the European Union. The city of Valencia has an area of 134.65 km² and a population density of 8201 inhabitants per km²
Health and Social Care in the Region
The National Health System (NHS) is composed by both the Central Government Administration and the autonomous regions public healthcare managements working in coordination to cover all the healthcare duties and benefits for which public authorities are legally responsible. Every Spanish citizen posses what is called the Individual Health Care Card, issued by each Health Service, which let access to public health services. This card identifies every citizen as a healthcare user throughout the National Health System. The NHS health care delivery system is structured into two health care levels in which there is an inverse relationship between accessibility and technological complexity . Regarding reimbursement in the Spanish Public Health System, services are free at the point of delivery, with the exception of prescription drugs. From a functional dimension of the public expenditure on healthcare, hospital and specialist services, with 54.0%, are those that represent a higher percentage of it, followed by the pharmaceutical benefit, 19.8%, and the primary care services with 15.7%.
The Health system is divided into Health Departments. In Valencia land region the number of Health Departments is 23 composed by several primary care centres and one or more Hospital. In total, Valencia region has 28 hospitals and 500 primary centres. Each health department covers a geographic area and its population, receiving the financial resources according to the population protected. It is a capitative model. In Valencia Region, each health department has a unique management structure contributing to integrated care. In "Valencia-La Fe" Health Department, there is just one hospital: Hospital La Fe, one of the biggest hospitals in Spain. The Valencia-La Fe Health Department contains 14 Primary Health Areas covering around 202621 in 2012.
Social care depends of each Region and is coordinated by the regional ministry of Welfare. The regional ministry distibute the funds that are managed by municipalies and cosortium of small municipalities ("Diputaciones"). Each municipalitiy provides the social services depending of an assesment of the needs of each person that are recognise at national level by the "Promotion of personal autonomy and care to persons in dependency situation" Law hat states that each person has the right to receive the needed social support depending of his/her welfare condition. The municipalities provides the services contacting privates companies who are the organitations that provides the services, formal caregivers and required assitance.
BeyondSilos in Valencia
BeyondSilos in Valencia targets people with multiple chronic diseases by introducing organisational changes to care service delivery and the deployment of remote monitoring technologies to allow service users to increase their independence and self-management capabilities. It builds upon an already existing programme addressing care delivery at home of service clients, by enhancing the social care component and improving joint care delivery processes.
A collaborative team of healthcare and social care providers, coordinated by the Health Department Valencia-La Fe, conducts a joint assessment of the social and health care needs of each service user and designs a personal care plan accordingly. A telemonitoring system is introduced following-up the health status of patients. Data are stored in an integrated care platform which shares key information between social and health care providers, allowing them to swiftly react to the changing needs and emergency situations of service users.
