Availability of care for the elderly in Poland for example city of Szczecin

Background. Twenty-first century is called the ‘age of aging populations’. In the first decade of this century one in five Europeans and one in ten people in the world was more than sixty. Aim. Aim of this study is to describe and analyze the care of the elderly in Poland on the example of the city of Szczecin.

Material and methods. The study involved care centers for the elderly in Szczecin. These were the health-care institutions, social assistance and private centers. The chosen research method was a diagnostic opinion poll using a survey technique combined with an interview with representatives of the institutions.

Results and conclusions. In Szczecin there are 22 institutions providing care for the elderly. These are social welfare home, a social welfare home for mentally ill people, daily social welfare homes, providers of long-term care nursing, a nursing care facility, hospices, MOPR provides open care services to the most needy (two company), private firm in Szczecin, two of which are stationary facilities. With service centers using 2.34% Szczecin seniors. Most customers use the forms of assistance provided by social assistance. Time to wait for the opportunity to take advantage of the facilities is usually a few months. In the area of Szczecin care services for older people are provided mainly by social welfare. Access to Szczecin institutions is low. The wider range of services, including long periods of waiting for the opportunity to start using the facility offers.