Convenors: Dr Obert Tawodzera and Dr Maria Teresa Ferazzoli, IMPACT

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and financial crises, long-term/ social care has reached a new critical point worldwide. This session brings together contributions from three European ‘excellence Centres’ designed to address the present challenges facing long-term/ social care by joining research, lived experiences, and best practice. The first paper will introduce the international long-term/ social care crisis context and how this has provoked the creation of these innovative Centres. In this paper, the authors (Dr Tawodzera and Dr Ferazzoli) will provide a definition of ‘Centres of excellence’ in long-term/ social care and the main challenges that these institutions are trying to tackle across Europe. The following papers will discuss the international experiences of NKa the Swedish national centre of excellence in the field of informal care; Vilans, a National centre for expertise for long term care in the Netherlands; and IMPACT, the new UK centre for evidence implementation. The aim of the presenters is to illustrate what can be learned on the international level from their experiences. More specifically, in the second paper Professor Hanson will discuss the successful experience of the Swedish Family Care Competence Centre in collaboration with the Malardalen University to develop a national knowledge based support for parents and informal caregivers of people with severe disabilities in Sweden using blended learning. The third paper will present the work of Vilans on the development of national long-term care policy and care services in the Netherlands (Professor Minkman). The last paper will present the work of IMPACT (Improving Adult Care Together) and Professor Glasby will illustrate IMPACT delivery models and their functions in translating evidence into practice.