The federation has a threefold role to play on behalf of DHAs: coordinating the dynamics between DHAs, mobilising the expertise needed to carry out their missions in the field, now and in the future, and representing home help and care services to politicians, government departments, other players in the sector and trade unions. Our role as a federation is becoming increasingly complex, not only because the pressure exerted on services by underfunding and/or a lack of investment from the public authorities does not make it any easier to commit to joint projects, but also because the needs of the public, the expectations of the public authorities and also technological practices and solutions are evolving faster and faster, often imposing themselves on us.
In 2023, some of the actions that particularly mobilised the FASD team and all the DSAs were strongly linked to the challenges we are facing.
- First and foremost, we ran a campaign to raise awareness of the refinancing of nursing care among decision-makers and the general public at the main railway stations in Wallonia and Brussels.
- We have also developed our practices using management tools: a new ERP (GAP), accompanied by a new AVJ timetable management tool (GAPàDom).
- Finally, the federation and its members have entered a phase of identity and organisational reflection in order to redefine and strengthen the common project that links us ASD and FASD centres.
You can find out more about these 3 projects in the pages of this activity report. In addition to these more specific focuses, however, we would also like to illustrate the main tasks carried out on a day-to-day basis by the federation's team: political and sectoral representation, work on the development of professions, raising the profile of care and assistance services and professionals, technical and operational support in the field, etc.
The stakes are high, the challenges are major and the projects are numerous! None of these can, or will, be met without the support and mobilisation of all those who make up the federation.
Gaël Verzele, Managing Director of the Fédération de l'Aide & des Soins à Domicile