Innovation: Pink 50+ and Pink Carpet scheme

Netherlands

AAI Domain: Independent, healthy and secure living (access to health services, mental well-being)

In general, European societies have become much more tolerant of people who are gay with the de-criminalising of homosexuality and widespread, though far from universal, acceptance of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) community. The Netherlands has long been associated with having a liberal and tolerant view of homosexuality and there are now increasing numbers of people who have spent all or most of their adult lives openly acknowledging their sexuality.

However, a survey of around 200 older members of the gay community in 2006 found that most feared for their future when they would not be able to live independently and faced the prospect of entering a long-term care institution that did not acknowledge that they would be providing care for an increasing number of gay people. Older gay people may well experience social isolation and loneliness as their social circle contracts and face the prospect of not being fully accepted in social care situations.

Pink 50+ was formed in 2006 to campaign for the rights of older gay people who still faced discrimination and disadvantage in society despite being the first generation of older people who had been free to live an openly gay lifestyle. It works in partnership with ANBO (the largest organisation for older people in the Netherlands), COC (a long established group supporting the LGBT community), Vilans (a long-term care provider) and Movisie (a national institute providing advice and solutions to social issues related to well-being, participation, social care and social security) and one of its major programmes is Pink Carpet.

This programme is an accreditation system that was developed with KIWA, a certification body in quality management, based on the completion of Tolerance Scan which poses questions to managers of long-term care institutions about how gay friendly their residential care homes are. This is completed online and if the care home can demonstrate that it can satisfy a number of domains including policies and organisational practices, acceptance and embracing of diversity among staff through training and processes for handling complaints then they can be considered to be gay-friendly and awarded the Pink Carpet accreditation.

The first long-term care institutions to be awarded the Pink Carpet symbol were in Nijmegen in 2008 and with initial funding from the Ministry of Health and private foundations the numbers grew as the Pink Carpet symbol became recognised and valued. There are now more than 100 long-term care institutions across the Netherlands that have completed the process and been accredited as gay-friendly although the funding has now stopped and the institution pays a modest fee.

The Pink Carpet approach has recently been extended to the provision of social care services in the home in partnership with KiesvoorjeZorg, an information website for social care services. The providers of social care services for people in their own homes go through a similar Tolerance Scan process to demonstrate that they act in a gay-friendly manner.

In relation to active ageing, Pink 50+ and their Pink Carpet system of accreditation is likely to contribute to the mental well-being of people in the LGBT community by providing reassurance that they can expect social care that respects their life choices and does not discriminate against them. The Pink Carpet symbol is also likely to improve access to health and care services for older people in the LGBT community.

Websites

RoseZorg

Weliswaar