It is always difficult in practice to define what a best practice is. Worldwide, different views and perspectives, different elements and variables can influence the definition of best practice. The definition should be also influenced by the context, by different economic situation, different resources that could have a role in orienting the policy making process towards practice that, even if not best, should have a relevant impact on the ability to deal with a public health problem. The elderly wellbeing, health care and quality of life are frequently influenced by many relevant factors, and alcohol, according to the systematic review of the scientific evidence on alcohol and the elderly already provided by a VINTAGE dedicated report.
Although there is an urgent need to develop good practices and effective policies and programmes to reduce the harmful use of alcohol by older people in all European countries, the results and the overview of the EU survey presented by this report probably does not fully allow to provide an exhaustive, final list of practices based on the need analysis provided through the views and the opinion of the different stakeholders. New forthcoming good practices and effective policies coming from the experience of the different stakeholders will be regularly and constantly updated on the specific VINTAGE website. Nonetheless, some evidences and epidemiological trends clearly identify all over Europe the need to start to reorganize the health services and the specific alcohol treatment services in order to satisfy the specific demand for alcohol prevention programs and treatment opportunities much more sensitive to the impact of an increasing rate of possible, not identified alcohol-related problems or diseases. As a consequence, professionals need to be trained in order to improve their capacity of detecting and managing harmful drinking amongst older people as well as to integrate in the daily practice actions and information tailored on the elderly needs. , appears to be one of the most relevant factor affecting the healthy life of a great number of older people.
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