Residential care for the Elderly on the North Atlantic Fringe: Cape Breton Island, the Faeroe Islands and Northern Norway.

The purpose of this study was to examine if there were any lessons to be learned in the field of elderly residential care provision in remote, rural and island locations in the Faeroe Islands, Cape Breton and Northern Norway. These locations provided examples of innovative and needs-led elderly care service delivery. They had universal, state funded and managed elderly care residential sectors. They excluded the value of residents' homes from the assessment of residents‟ care home charges. They provided examples of integrated day care, supported housing and residential care services and of excellence in the physical design and sensitive layout of care and nursing homes. Cape Breton and, particularly, the Faeroes provided examples of an all encompassing, person-centred philosophy of residential care (the Eden Alternative). The Faeroes and Norway provided examples of the advantages of local community empowerment and service user representation and consultation. The Faeroes also provided an example of an integrated home care and residential teams in the remoter settings. The Northern Periphery is an EU led agency undertaking policy research in areas that have a particular impact in remote, island and rural communities in North Western Europe. Our Lives as Elderly (2004-2006) is a Northern Periphery research project looking at the future of elderly care services in five national settings including northern Norway and the Faeroe Islands. Topic research areas within the field of elderly care included: Health Care, Housing, Staffing, Networks and the Relatives and Kinship. This study uses the Northern Periphery research project as a framework.