EASPD invites you to join us for our International Conference: ‘Quality of Life & Support Services: From Words to Action’. The conference will aim to inspire support services to implement modern quality measurement models focusing on improving the quality of life of the people they support. Hosted in St Paul’s Bay , Malta the conference will take place on 13th-14th October 2022.
In addition to the conference, EASPD members can also attend the Board meeting (for board members only on 12th May), Member Fora meetings (on the 12th-14th October) and the General Assembly (15th October). EASPD also invites conference participants to its Conference Dinner, hosted on 13th October.
Working language of the conference: English.
Real-time captioning: English.
Other accessibility needs can be also accommodated, including Maltese Sign Language Interpretation, upon request.
Conference Venue: db San Antonio Hotel & Spa, Triq it-Turisti, St Paul’s Bay SPB 1024, Malta.
Registrations have shut.
The conference is co-hosted by the European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities and Aġenzija Sapport.
The European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) represents the interests of over 20,000 social care and support service providers for persons with disabilities across 41 countries.
Aġenzija Sapport is the National Agency that provides professional and innovative services to enhance the quality of life of persons with disabilities and their families. The services given are developed on a person-centred approach. The main strategy adopted by Aġenzija Sapport is to provide people with disability with support rather than care, so that they would be able to achieve independence to the best of their ability, continue living within the community and receive support as and when required.
Rationale of the conference
Measuring the quality of services for persons with disabilities is a challenging mission for most service providers. The challenges arise not only from the lack of a mutually agreed definition on what quality is but also on how it can be measured efficiently and how it can further help services improve!
Even if, in most of the countries, the assessment of quality in services is set out in legislation, they do not specify methodologies, indicators, and do not define quality. In certain countries the assessment of quality follows procedures, such as formal inspection visits, that often do not provide services with the necessary means to develop and improve. However, there seems to be a general interest, also on the EU level, to improve the quality of services and the quality assessment processes.
EASPD wants to shape this interest and invites you to join our Autumn conference on “Quality of Life & Support Services: From Words to Action”. This conference is co-organised with Agenzija Sapport, an EASPD member and Malta’s National Agency that provides professional and innovative services to enhance the quality of life of persons with disabilities and their families.
The conference will aim to inspire support services to implement modern quality measurement models focusing on improving the quality of life of the people they support. It will further showcase how such models can help service providers move forward towards better quality, empowering and person-centred forms of support, aligned with the UN CRPD principles.
This conference will:
- provide participants with a good understanding on the situation across Europe on innovative quality measurement systems.
- discuss the challenges and opportunities that this process may bring for support services.
- will bring two experiences from Scotland and Malta on how different levels (macro – meso - micro) can work together to support service development and improvement.
- conclude with representatives from the EU, public authorities, services providers, and persons with disabilities identifying the next steps.
Highlight of the conference:
- Participants will have the opportunity to participate in training sessions focused on different elements related to the operation/ management of a service, on person-centred and family-centred planning, quality measurement models and co-production, among others.