SUSTAIN was a cross-European project with thirteen partners from nine countries. SUSTAIN worked with fourteen initiatives in seven participating countries, which aimed to achieve integrated care for older people living at home. SUSTAIN has supported them in further improving this care.

Project aims were

• to improve established integrated care initiatives for older people living at home with multiple health and social care needs, ensuring they are patient-centred, prevention-oriented, efficient, resilient to crises, safe and sustainable
• to ensure that improvements to the integrated care initiatives are applicable and adaptable to other health systems and regions in Europe

Project coordination 

RIVM coordinated the SUSTAIN project together with VU University Medical Center Amsterdam.

From left to right: 

• Professor Giel Nijpels, project coordinator (VUmc)
• Professor Caroline Baan, project coordinator (RIVM)
• Simone de Bruin, project manager (RIVM)

Project structure

The SUSTAIN project lasted 48 months and is divided into three interrelated phases covering eight interrelated work packages (WPs).

RIVM’s contribution

The RIVM department involved in the SUSTAIN project is the Department for Quality of Care and Health Economics, which is part of the Centre for Nutrition, Prevention, and Health Services. This department has considerable expertise in the area of health services research, including care for the elderly, integrated care, and population health management. There is also expertise in applying a mixed-methods approach. As such, RIVM, in addition to the overall coordination of the project, has also coordinated two work packages; WP4 and WP5. As RIVM is experienced in linking science, policy, and practice and in translating empirical findings to policy recommendations, RIVM has also contributed to the development of a roadmap.

Roadmap

One of the main outcomes of SUSTAIN is the roadmap 'Sustainable tailored integrated care for older people in Europe'.  The roadmap is a set of instructions, guidelines and proposed actions that provides policy-makers and decision-makers with a step-by-step guide to support designing, establishing and maintaining systems of integrated care. The roadmap is available as download.

The SUSTAIN project was an excellent opportunity to further expand RIVM’s knowledge and network in the area of integrated care.  

Funding

The SUSTAIN project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 634144.