CASCADE
Community Areas of Sustainable Care And Dementia Excellence in Europe
Priority Axis
Technological and Social InnovationSpecific objective
Social Innovation
Lead partner
The Health and Europe CentreContact
Start Date
01/04/2017End Date
31/03/2023Project budget
9 324 211 €ERDF amount
5 594 527 €ERDF rate
60%About
Common challenge
The 65+ age cohort is rising from 18.2% of total EU population to 28.7% by 2080, creating an explosion in demand for elderly care services, currently unmet appropriately. Patients are often 'parked' in expensive hospital beds as there is no suitable local service provision. Dementia services cost the EU €130bn p.a; 3 of the 4 countries have higher than average dementia rates >1.55%. To avoid overwhelming health systems, new approaches are needed for elderly/dementia care (EDC) across all ages with wide applicability across different cultural/social settings which crucially must be financially sustainable.
To date new developments have focused on removing the people living with dementia (PLWD) to a safe place rather than providing a porous continuum of care that enables them to stay in their own home as long as possible.
The challenge is to provide sustainable person-centred programmes of care support in local communities.
Overall objective
Main outputs
Cross border approach
Main Achievements
Ageing is one of the major societal challenges and currently there is a gap between the needs of the elderly and the way care services are organised and produced. CASCADE is providing a new approach to care of the elderly and people living with dementia (PLWD) with their needs and social interaction at the heart of the model. It will integrate them more closely with their local communities and provide an emphasis on PLWD staying in their own homes for as long as possible in a safe and supported way.
To date the project has built two new facilities in the UK, both officially opened in the autumn of 2019: the Harmonia Village in Dover and Harmony House in Medway. The CASCADE model of care is being implemented in all four sites across the partnership: two in the UK and two in Belgium. There is a tourism element of the model (the accommodation for short stay holidays for PLWD) and Kortijk was the first site to launch this offer. A significant amount of work is being done with the local communities in each of the sites and site visits/tours are taking place to engage existing and new stakeholders.
The CASCADE training programme has been developed, modules have been delivered via face to face sessions but are being made available as online learning.
The project overall is attracting a significant amount of media interest, at a local and national level. Television, radio and newspaper articles have all featured CASCADE. Academic papers have been published and attendance at significant events, such as Alzheimer Europe Conference continue to generate further interest in the project and what is being achieved. CASCADE has also attracted interest from much further afield with our project partner, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, site of the Harmonia Village, being asked to present via video conference to participants at the "Integrated and Sustainable Long Term Care Model for Older Adults in Malaysia".
The new facilities are also being nominated for and winning awards. In 2020, Harmony House was shortlisted for a KEIBA (Kent Excellence in Business Award) award, and the Harmonia Village along with the construction company Jenners, who actually built the facilities, won "Considerate Constructors National Gold Award 2020" for the delivery of the Harmonia Village.
2020 has been a difficult year for CASCADE with COVID-19 having a significant impact on the project, however implementation of the model of care and evaluation will resume in 2021.