The global consultation on integrated care for older people (ICOPE) – the path to universal health coverage (UHC) – took place in Berlin, Germany, 23–25 October 2017. Bringing together an international group of stakeholders and experts, it was designed to consult them on the implementation of the ICOPE approach of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO Global strategy and action plan on ageing and health provides a policy framework to ensure that societal responses to population ageing are aligned with ambitious development agendas. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) demonstrate a renewed global commitment to health systems, underpinned by the target for UHC. Without structural and social changes, however, many of the ambitions of the SDGs cannot be achieved.
Health systems will need to respond to the diverse needs of older people, including those who are experiencing high and stable levels of intrinsic capacity, those in whom capacity is declining, and those for whom capacity has fallen to the point where they need the care and support of others. On this regard, WHO commissioned a systematic review of evidence followed by a global Delphi study to identify which were the effective elements that would support the integration of care.
The Delphi study that has informed this consultation meeting has clarified different stakeholders’ perspectives on implementing integrated care, yet further research is needed also to understand older people’s perspectives better. The inputs from the meeting have been invaluable. Participants indicated that the elements identified as necessary for integrated care demand clearer descriptions, but without making them overly prescriptive and therefore difficult to interpret and implement in different settings. The consultation also identified missing elements that might be given consideration, including pain assessment and end-of-life care. In addition to the specific elements needed for ICOPE, the meeting proposed more general principles that should be followed in a set of broader goals and actions to support implementation.
The consultation meeting in Berlin was also a great opportunity for a rich diversity of global expertise – from various fields relevant to Healthy Ageing and including representatives of WHO Member States – to come together and share numerous lessons learnt in the implementation of ICOPE and to engage in rich discussions that would help to inform the development of the implementation framework for the WHO ICOPE approach.
The next steps resulting from the consultation meeting are to revise the Delphi study questionnaire and to clarify the key terms and concepts; to involve in the consultation organizations that work closely with older people; and to involve more participants from low- and middle-income countries in subsequent rounds of the Delphi study.
You can read the full report from the Berlin Meeting here