Foral Institute on Social Welfare: Improving the Quality of Life of Older Adults and People with Disabilities Through Quality Social Services

The Foral Institute of Social Welfare (IFBS, acronym in Spanish) of the Provincial Council of Álava (in Spanish), organized in 2000 in the Basque region of Spain, introduces and develops processes aimed at evaluating and guaranteeing the social services provided to the residents Álava and promotes continuous improvement of social services for people with disabilities and older adults focusing on quality of life of those served. As part of its work, IFBS created the Quality of Care in Social Services portal (in Spanish) to assist service providers improve the care they provide. The portal gives visibility to the quality initiatives promoted by IFBS and the efforts made in its framework by professionals, family members and other consumers. The focus of the Institute’s portal is to serve as a practical support for those who are interested in improving the quality of care in the services they receive or provide. The portal facilitates access to all the materials designed and applied within that framework. It contains a bank of good practice recommendations (in Spanish); a bank of instruments (in Spanish) that provide direct access to a selection of care quality assessment and assurance methods and a selection of care standards; and a virtual library (in Spanish) that is updated regularly.