[Home care: responsibilities and importance, present situation and future prospects].

Home care enables those in need of care to be looked after in their home environment for as long as is in their interest. This is not necessarily always more economical than inpatient care. Regardless of this, it may be in the interest of those in need of care or their relatives that they be looked after in a nursing home. The need for care is defined differently in various laws. When the need for care is established, certain services including financial support are granted. Approximately 80 per cent of those in need of care are looked after at home by their relatives, often supported by neighbours and home help services. The older those in need become, the more care is necessary and therefore more are admitted into nursing homes. The future perspectives of home care are determined by four factors. (i) Demographic developments are such that there is an increase in the number of people in need of care, whereas the size of the working population is on the decrease. (ii) The changing family structure means a possible reduction in the ability and even willingness to care for those in need in the family environment. (iii) A drop in nursing staff potential. (iv) Financing nursing care so that it can support home care. All in all, the looking after of those in need of care in the future brings with it problems for society, the solutions for which have not yet been found. The socio-political and humanitarian aim of looking after those in need of care in their home environment whenever possible still remains.