Lack of self-sufficiency: the ‘Grandparents’ Day’ initiative forms part of the Plan for the over-70s, which integrates health and social care

With the go-ahead from CIPA – the Interministerial Committee for Policies in Support of Older People, established by the Reform on Non-Self-Sufficiency (Law 33/2023) – a crucial piece of the jigsaw has fallen into place, at least on paper, to complete the framework for addressing frailty in our country. This piece of the jigsaw comes at the perfect time, coinciding with Grandparents’ Day on 2 October.
The new ‘National Plan for the Support and Care of Frailty and Dependency in the Elderly Population 2025–2027’ (which is, admittedly, long overdue) is dedicated exclusively to the age group of 70 and over. It thus completes the programme dedicated to those who are not self-sufficient: it follows on from the plan of 17 March, which targets those who are not self-sufficient up to the age of 70.
These two documents form a ‘relay’ of interventions and share some of the resources: whilst the March Plan had allocated 3 billion for the three-year period 2025–2027, part of that sum will go to the 2 October Plan, for which the Government is announcing a total of approximately 1.5 billion plus 50 million. This amounts to almost 17 million per year for the recruitment of staff at the single-point access centres to be established in community homes. And whilst the Plan for the ‘under-70s’ covers measures ranging from social housing to home care and integrated social care, right through to respite care for families, these measures have now been strengthened in the plan for the most vulnerable over-70s.

1.5 billion on the line

The new Plan for the ‘over-70s’ – approximately 60 pages plus annexes – approved by CIPA and to be implemented by the Regions, was adopted ahead of its immediate submission to the Council of Ministers during a meeting chaired by the Deputy Minister for Labour and Social Policies, Maria Teresa Bellucci. The Minister herself, Marina Calderone, took part in the meeting, alongside the stakeholders who had been involved in finalising the plan. The aim is to “strengthen home care, simplify access to services and boost social and healthcare staff, with the aim of placing the elderly person and their right to receive adequate care and assistance at the centre”, explains Palazzo Chigi, which, in a statement, emphasised the “turning point” in the care of the country’s approximately 4 million elderly people who are not self-sufficient. This was followed by the announcement that “the financial resources allocated to the Plan for the three-year period 2025–2027 amount to over 1.5 billion euros, to be drawn from the Fund for the Non-Self-Sufficient”. Thus, these are mostly existing funds that are to be reorganised.
Explaining the rationale behind the initiative, Minister Calderone said: ‘Italia is one of the nations with the highest life expectancy in the world,’ she said, ‘and the growing number of older people requires us to strengthen our care and support policies, in order to provide increasingly appropriate responses to a changing reality. It is a major challenge for our future, an investment in people’s wellbeing through the development of a care model capable of supporting the ageing process with appropriate services, a focus on individuals and support for families.”

The Plan focuses on integration, with the aim of building an “innovative model for the provision of social and healthcare services”, according to a further statement from Palazzo Chigi. A central role will be entrusted to the Single Access Points (PUA) in community care homes, which will serve as the point of contact for citizens and families – a total audience of around 10 million people – and it is no coincidence that support in the form of ‘coaching’ is also planned for households. This is also in light of the fact that one of the Plan’s objectives is to enable older people to remain in their own homes, with ADI services (hitherto supported by the NRRP, which has since ‘expired’) as well as social home care.
Once the system is fully operational, older people will be able to contact the Pua, undergo a multidimensional assessment by a specialist team and, if necessary, receive an individualised care plan (Pai). The PAI will set out the care objectives, the necessary interventions and the appropriate professionals to ensure that older people who are not self-sufficient receive integrated, coordinated and continuous care.
‘On Grandparents’ Day,’ added Deputy Minister Bellucci, ‘the Government is taking a decisive step forward in implementing the mandate to reform policies for older people. We are placing the individual, their dignity and their right to receive adequate care and support at the centre. The strength of this plan lies not only in the substantial resources allocated and the clear, forward-looking guidelines for local authorities, but also in the broad participation encouraged during its drafting, which saw the involvement of trade unions, third sector organisations, professional bodies and the scientific community.”

However, the integration process is still being finalised: the implementing decrees provided for in Articles 27 and 29 of Legislative Decree 29/2024 – which has largely rewritten the Reform of Care for the Non-Self-Sufficient – are still pending. This is no minor detail, as it is precisely these decrees that will establish the criteria for the Unified Multidimensional Assessment (Vmu): the ‘cornerstone of the elderly care system’, necessary to streamline and simplify care pathways by identifying the bio-psycho-social needs of the individual and their household. Not only that: the VMU will also be responsible for verifying the eligibility criteria for older people to access state benefits, such as the Universal Benefit introduced by the Reform.
Today, this framework remains a pipe dream: in any case, a pilot scheme will be launched, and even if all goes well, the system will not be fully operational until 2028.