ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses imbalances between the rapidly growing demand for care services and its insufficient supply in Poland. It presents the supply of long-term care (LTC) services in Poland. The demand for care among older people depends on the number of older people in the population, their health status and functional limitations, which together drive the need for care services, either received at home or in institutions. Traditionally in Poland, care for people with illnesses and limitations in activities has been provided at home, informally. Arguments in favour of the development of formal LTC are also related to the presence of two phenomena: ageism and loneliness of older people. Public residential care in Poland exists only for poor and solitary older people and people medically recognized as dependent, in need of professional full-time care. Although Poland has traditionally sent migrants abroad for work, over the last two decades it has become a migrant-receiving country for citizens of Eastern Europe.
