The Barcelos mental health centre, in Portugal, has been selected by the “EU Compass” platform, working on behalf of the European Commission in the fields of health and mental well-being, to promote best practices and efficient methods of providing mental health home care in Europe.

For several years now, the Order’s centre has been running a mental health service within the municipality of Barcelos, including care provided outside the facility itself, with a mobile care team called “CuiDando” comprising psychiatrists and health and social care professionals.

The home care service has had a very positive impact on patient treatment, reducing the number of hospital admissions and inpatient care times in the local psychiatric care facilities.  

The Portuguese Province’s experience with the “CuiDando” project -  which it presented jointly with the Brussels Hospitality Europe office - was selected and mentioned in the publication dedicated to efficient and innovative mental health care practices, published by the “EU Compass” platform and available for consultation (in English) on the European Commission website:

https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/mental_health/docs/2018_goodpractices_en.pdf

This publication gives yet more visibility to the work delivered by the Hospitaller Order on behalf of the mentally ill in the wake of the European ROAMER project coordinated by the Barcelona Parc Sanitari and the funding allocated last year to the Lombardy-Veneto Province for a pilot project on the prevention of violent behaviour on the part of psychiatric patients.