GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

Research and innovation activities under this topic should address several of the following:

• Different types of barriers – different barriers to study could be financial, geographic, social, marginalisation and discrimination. The selection of factors should be context specific as groups suffering from access barriers vary a lot across EU countries and at subnational level. The principle of needs-based health and care should be taken into account.
• Access to what? – for example: what part of the health and care system (from prevention, primary care and long-term care to tertiary care, any specific services, e.g. mental care) do different groups have access to? Is integrated care provided for these groups taking into account their particular needs? How much health and care services do different groups access?
• Solutions – What measures are needed to counter inequalities in health and care access and make sure that vulnerable groups access health and care services and that access is based on needs (measures to educate, support and empower vulnerable groups can be included here)? What are the costs, at different levels, to develop these solutions? Piloting of measures could be included. Community-based and/or co-created initiatives and peer-support approaches: what works and how can these be supported, sustained and/or integrated in the wider service landscape.
• Better data – improving access and quality of data will contribute to identify people in vulnerable situations’ health needs and implement targeted measures corresponding to the challenges that each group experiences.
• Cost analyses – The cost of inequalities in access to health and care services: Quantitatively and/or qualitatively measure the negative impact on not taking measures for helping people in vulnerable situations have access to health and care services including prevention.