Analysis of the Infrastructure of Social Services Facilities for the Elderly in Selected Regions of the European Union

Social services play an irreplaceable role in supporting clients in their adverse social situation. The clients most commonly include persons with health and social problems that increase with their age, as a result they become more and more dependent on another person's expert support. Social services for the elderly are provided in various forms: in the ambulant, outreach and residential forms, as well as in the telecommunication form in justified cases. This work is dedicated to the analysis and subsequent comparison of the structure of social services facilities for the elderly in Trencin and Zilina Self-Governing Regions in the Slovak Republic. It identifies key problems that social services facilities for the elderly in the above regions encounter and presents options through which the European social policy can be helpful in developing, modernizing and effectively adjusting these facilities from the standpoint of demand for the social services provided by them.