Social care is a specific type of support needed for maintaining and improving a person’s health and social well-being, mostly due to a person’s illness, age or disability. A person’s right to receive social services in certain life situations is a component of a person’s human right to health.
Health & Social care
A person’s health is made up of a combination of different physical and non-physical factors, with a person’s social well-being also being a crucial part of this concept. A specific type of support may sometimes be needed for maintaining and improving a person’s health and social well-being, mostly due to a person’s illness, age or disability. This support is called social care and is inseparably linked with health care.
Social care & Social services
In Lithuania, social care is mostly ensured through the provision of certain types of social services. The types of social services and the principles and procedures for their provision are regulated by the Law on Social Services. This law defines social care services, social rehabilitation services and technical aids services, and determines which persons may receive them and under what conditions. You can find a list of social services in the Social Services Catalogue.
- Social care services are a set of measures aimed at the satisfaction of the basic needs of those persons who have objective difficulties taking care of themselves due to old age or functional disorders.
example Rehabilitation services for persons with functional disabilities.
- Social rehabilitation (special) services are a set of measures aimed at the renewal or improvement of social functioning abilities in order to ensure the recovery of social status and integration into society.
example The teaching and learning of self-care skills in order to reduce the impact of sight loss on a person's ability to function socially.
- Technical aids services are a set of measures that ensure the functional assessment of a person, the manufacture, adjustment, training for use, repair and provision of technical aids, and the delivery thereof, at a person’s place of residence.
example A person with anatomic defects may receive a prosthesis or orthopedic footwear.
Most of these social services, especially social care services, have significant importance in the context of an individual’s right to health. A person’s right to receive social services in certain life situations may be a component of a person’s human right to health.
About this section
In this section, you can learn what social care is, about its linkage to a person’s health, and the kind of social services needed due to a person’s illness, age or disability which are regulated and financed in Lithuania.