In the face of a growing quantity of reports, information, surveys, statistics, descriptions and projections on so many aspects of the health and social system in our country, we are gradually becoming more and more aware of the limits of such contributions. As a simple example from the various national sources that are easy to access, one might cite all the institutional web sites and/or data banks such as the National Statistical Institute (Istat, see, for example, the Annuario statistico italiano 2006, recently published and available entire online); the Ministry of Health, the Italian Agency of Drug (Aifa); the Istituto Superiore di Sanità; the Istituto Nazionale per l’Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro; and the Interuniversity Consortium (Cineca - Arno Report). only subscribers can see the full article

The care epidemiology in the title is not a contradiction in term: it is where science and methodology meet in an important research institute, and also how the heath and social workers of some local health authorities in the Veneto Region see their work in the daily practice of care. The best-known point of view on the need for information in the health and social services is that to be found in national/regional planning; various sources — such as surveys and Istat’s Multi-purpose Surveys — periodically provide an important picture of the population and demographic trends, the perceived state of health and the level of non-self-sufficiency, the structure of the modern family and recourse to services. The point of view here, by contrast, is the data produced by the health services themselves, particularly at district level, which is officially responsible for integration.only subscribers can see the full article

The health and social services sector is a growing border area that seems to contain both the contradictions of the health service and those of social services. Operatively, economically, institutionally, culturally and procedurally, it is witnessing a transformation/evolution/involution of constitutionally guaranteed rights, and so of the meaning of citizenship. In our view, the difficult and complex relation between the health and social sectors, in terms of definition, institutional organisation and responsibility, organisational cultures, resources invested, profit-making and non-profit-making private interests operating, trade union relations and contract systems etc., is one of the keys for interpreting the evolution of welfare in Italy, and perhaps in the whole of Europe.only subscribers can see the full article