The social services primary healthcare model subject to debate: professional dilemmas and reflections arising out of the Navarra case

Abstract

The social services system was conceived in a social context highly different to the present one, characterised by full employment, the high integrative potential of traditional families and the low volume of dependent older adults. Social changes in recent decades in terms of employment, family models and increases in life expectancy, as well as the drastic consequences of the crisis for many households, have given rise to certain professional difficulties that fuel traditional debates revolving around the vagueness of the object of their action, the target population, its general or polyvalent character, the appearance of new actors and the delineation of powers as regards design, management and financing. The aim of this report is to develop reflections on the appropriate response of the current social services model to the new social and professional needs. The issues presented are the preliminary outcomes of a process of reflection among social services professionals that has begun to take place in the Foral Community of Navarra. Though Navarra’s primary healthcare model contains important particularities in comparison with those of other autonomous communities in Spain, the reflections that have begun to spark debates intended to contribute in addressing key issues for social services in Spain.