Learning from Person-Centred Care Model in Belgian Elderly Care Homes during first wave of Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic revealed the crisis of the care sector for a global ageing population. Most of the countries across Europe were strongly impacted by the pandemics and one of the most vulnerable groups was the senior population, especially those who lived in care-homes. Since 2000, healthy ageing and the person-centred care model have become relevant concepts in the health sector. The application of the person-centred care model to the built environment requires the adaptation of building regulations and urban planning for providing a home-like environment. The current study was placed in Belgium for being a country where small-scale care facilities were widely implemented. The aim of this study was to analyse different domains of elderly care-homes in Belgium through a survey to question their relationship with the impact of the first wave of Covid-19. The results of the ten care-homes that responded to the survey showed a high implantation of the person-centred care model. Regarding Covid-19 infections, 5 out of 10 of the care homes had infected residents and only 2 of them had residents that passed away due to the infection. These two care homes were in the top three of the care homes with more residents. Moreover, several environmental and management aspects such as small-scaled units, individual bedrooms, outdoor access, and fixed staff for each unit were measures already implemented in the care homes and later recommended by authorities during the pandemic. Further research might investigate whether these aspects could influence the resilience of the care homes if compared with the number of infections in other care homes where those measures were still unimplemented.