The European Union data surveys give evidence of the growing trend of population ageing in the Member States. The aim of the study was to analyse the social structure of population in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland in comparison with the average population in the EU-27 and present recommendations for policy makers for further improvement of the social policy development in these countries. The authors used monographic method to study theoretical aspects of society aging and welfare and statistical data analysis of secondary data aggregated by Eurostat reports, Eurobarometer survey and databases of national institutions. The analysis of the society aging indicators in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland clearly shows that the policy makers of these countries so far have been mainly focusing on unpopular measures -either increasing taxes or raising the retirement age, which have caused citizens' dissatisfaction with the existing social policy that does not provide any hopes for the existing and becoming pensioners to approximate to successful aging. The authors consider that the national institutions responsible for society's welfare issues should further encourage socially innovative solutions by finding unusual ideas for obtaining multidimensional support, including the assistance provided by policy-makers and involving local agents to enhance inclusion of the aged population in the labour market, especially in creating jobs for themselves, being able to retain employment as temporary workers or being encouraged to work in other professions.
The availability of quality pharmaceutical care services is an important precondition for the nation's welfare, therefore their quality maintenance and regular evaluation is one of the main challenges that pharmacies have to deal with. Based on the previous studies of theoretical fundamentals of service quality, the authors have set the research aim to apply SERVPERF and SERVQUAL methods of service quality evaluation for identifying the quality gaps in "Meness aptieka" pharmaceutical services. Retrospective evaluation of service quality can only partly show if quality is at sufficient or insufficient level, therefore authors recommend service providers to use a combined quality evaluation system which includes both identifying of customer expectations and their real experience, afterwards comparing those evaluations to detect gaps in real performance. The research results showed that the quality of the four surveyed "Meness aptieka" pharmacies' services in Jurmala is at high level and meets customer expectations. There were few minor quality gaps detected, among which most important was customers' dissatisfaction with new product promotions in pharmacies, which are perceived rather as aggressive sales than holistic care for customer's health.
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