Social support systems Organisation and financing of social
support to people with dementia and carers Background
information on the social/healthcare system in Italy In 1978,
the National Health System was set up in Italy. In the same
year, Local Health Authorities (USL) were created which were
controlled by the municipalities. However, it was not until 2000
that a legal framework and financial basis for a national
development of social services was established. There is still a
strong emphasis on support from the family. Care of the elderly
is traditionally considered as a kind of “social duty” by the
family, especially the women on whom the main burden of care
falls. According to Auser (2001), “it is generally accepted as
normal and legitimate that the community and institutions should
become involved in caring for elderly family members only after
the family resources – often interpreted in a very extended
sense (up to the third degree of kinship) have run out (in
Polverini et al. 2004). Demand for home c