Public sector

The study advances the debate on the co-creation of value in healthcare by treating the informal caregivers as a key organizational resource for the providers. Using the Dialogue, Access, Risk, and Transparency (DART) model developed by Prahalad and Ramaswamy as an interpretative key, this qualitative paper frames the role of the informal caregivers within the multiple experiences of value co-creation in which they are engaged. The central argument is that the informal caregiver performs three intersecting key roles: patient's advocate, system navigator and coordinator of care.

This article describes and analyses public support for Swedish unpaid carers, now mandated by law, and also the support that they desire, using surveys conducted in 2008, 2009, and later. Few carers helping someone in a different household – the large majority of the carers – received any support aimed directly at them, such as access to support groups, training, relief service, or financial support. Yet, most carers did not desire any support for themselves. They mostly wanted public services for the cared-for person, all of which may also indirectly support carers.

This study investigates how (a) the reliance on public care and (b) the type of public care received by older people in the Netherlands depends on the availability of partners and adult children. Older people aged 65 years and older were surveyed in the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study at two time-points. Survey results were linked to registry data on public care receipt at the two time-points. Multilevel models revealed that receiving frequent help in the household from children was not associated with public care receipt. Only men having a partner were less likely to receive public care.