This publication addresses the need to bring together the two spheres of health care and social care. The healthcare model and the social care model often fail to combine forces to provide the most effective response to the needs of elderly people with health problems and associated social issues.

It is time to reconsider an approach based on two separate models that fail to take account of the fact that people's needs do not exist in separate compartments but, rather, require coordination and dialogue between the health and social sectors if we really want a society that provides integrated care, particularly in old age and at the end of life, and does so in a way that optimizes resources and makes efficient use of the system.

This monograph is the result of a partnership between the Víctor Grífols Foundation and Fundación Mémora, launched within the framework of the Ciudades que Cuidan project (Cities that Care), which focuses on preventing the death of people in situations of vulnerability and unwanted solitude.