USING HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES AS PREVENTION OF SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN OLD AGE

With regard to the demographic aging of the population, the use of health and social services has become hot topic in old age. Care of elderly people should be holistic and complex – i.e. health and social care, because deterioration of the health of the elderly leads to a worsening of the social situation and vice versa. An unsatisfactory social environment leads to a deterioration in the health of the elderly because health and social situations interact and condition each other. Social exclusion is a topical issue that can take different kinds and forms (spatial; economic; cultural, social and political exclusion and symbolic exclusion). The use of health and social services and their availability for the elderly can prevent the emergence of social exclusion in old age. The aim of the paper is to describe the relationship between the use of health and social services by the elderly and the emergence of social exclusion in old age. The author will focus on the presentation of results of qualitative research, which has been realized in seniors 65+ living in a home environment in the Czech Republic. The results will focus on the use and availability of health and social services in the context of social exclusion. The contribution was supported by the project “Social Exclusion in Seniors Living in the Home Environment in the Czech Republic” supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic in the INTER-COST sub-program, INTER-EXCELLENCE, No. LTC18066.