the centres were not very successful in coordinating
services [21,22]. The revised Long-term Care Insurance
Act of 2011 added the following responsibility to
the roster of the community general support centres:
the local municipalities responsible for establishing
the centres ‘must strive to coordinate with long-term
care service providers, commissioned welfare volunteers,
volunteers involved with activities supporting
the daily lives of elderly persons, and other related persons’
(Paragraph 46, Article 115 of the revised Longterm
Care Insurance Act). This clearly included coordinating
activities in the official duties of the centres. The
‘Outline of the Establishment and Management of
Community General Support Centers’, amended to
reflect the revised long-term care insurance Act,
expressly stipulates that centres should create networks
for long-term care-related organizations and persons,
and encourages the establishment of a
Community Care Council [23].
Community Care Councils support community networks
by arranging for discussions of individual cases,
which outline each user’s care management programme
and identify any problems. The Council
includes staff from the municipality, the centre and
long-term care-related organizations. Separate councils
can be set up for various regions within the municipality
or for a collection of municipalities if that would
best serve the community. The outline stresses the
importance of close coordination of medical treatment
and long-term care. In addition, it recommends that
municipalities create a mechanism for sharing user
data among support providers, while keeping in mind
the need to protect personal information [23].