In the second week of September 2019, the canton of Basel-Stadt published its “Basel 55+” guidelines. What does such a paper mean?

Why “Basel55+” 

Let’s start at the beginning: In 2013, the Health Department (GD) in the canton of Basel-Stadt implemented the proposal that senior citizens’ organizations should set up working groups to find solutions to problems affecting the older population. 

The main topics were care and nursing, securing livelihoods, health promotion and prevention, information, integration and migration as well as generational relationships, potential and skills, security and mobility, networking and new technologies, security of supply and housing. 

Consider the diversity of the older population 

In September 2019, it was explained that modern age policy encompasses different generations, but also the diversity of the older population group with their different needs. The current guidelines cover individual topics such as autonomy, subsidiarity and cooperation. Each individual keyword first states what the canton promotes or what it is committed to. For each keyword, the canton also explains the topic and provides corresponding background information. 

Guideline No. 11, for example, is entitled "Potential and Abilities". It states that the canton supports "local self-help and neighborhood help." And: "It develops measures to recognize post-professional and post-family voluntary work." The explanatory text addresses, among other things, the phase of life after retirement. The latter frees up new time resources. 

So far so good. 

Ambitious goals 

If you look at these guidelines more critically, they are primarily commitments to the various issues - nothing more and nothing less. I think that every single point has certainly been analyzed in depth. But the goals are ambitious and there are many ideas on the table. Either way, in a few years we will see whether the canton of Basel-Stadt has achieved its newly defined goals or whether it has been overtaken or overtaken by history. And let's hope that the ideas do not become paper tigers. 

Have I made you want to study the guidelines? www.aelterbasel.ch you will find a lot of information as well as the new compilation of the above-mentioned keywords in the brochure “Basel55+“.