World Health Day 2018
Integrated Care Programme for Older Persons (ICPOP) raises awareness for the continuing challenges facing healthcare for older people.
On the 7th of April every year, World Health Day is celebrated globally. It is founded on the core principle that all people young and old, have the right to highest quality healthcare equally. There is a demographic revolution unfolding worldwide, with huge increases in the amount of people aged over 60, currently at around 600 million and set to reach 2 billion by 2050. Such trends lead to a greater consumption of health and social care. In Ireland, people aged over 65 are generally occupying up to 50% of acute hospital inpatient bed days, this is projected to increase greatly in the coming years; at this rate a required increase in beds is needed, at a rate equivalent to building a new midsize hospital every day for the next ten years.
According to research, there is a 7.5 years increase in life expectancy when one thinks positively about aging. In order to achieve this level of positivity, we need sustainable healthcare and social care strategies for older persons. Launched in 2015, the Integrated Care Programme for Older Persons (ICPOP) is a multi-faceted approach which seeks to change how health and social care for older people is delivered nationwide. The programme goes beyond providing healthcare excellence but enables older people to live at home and stay within their communities. The central focus of this programme is on patient experience and quality of care.
World Health Day is about raising awareness about global health issues, so it’s appropriate that we acknowledge the continuing challenges facing older people in our society today. With that in mind, the Integrated Care Programme for Older Persons (ICPOP) looks to build on the important work it has done, to ensure the delivery of excellence in health and social care for older persons into the future.
The Integrated Care Programme for Older Persons (ICPOP) encourages local and global conversions to take place about these healthcare issues facing older people today and the integrated framework as they have proposed in the ICPOP framework.
