Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Department of Geriatrics and Long-Term Care, a WHO Collaborating Centre for Healthy Ageing and Dementia in Qatar hosted a 3-day training workshop for Icope (Integrated Care for Older People) .
In attendance were 21 specialist multidisciplinary delegates from Iraq as well as clinicians from Qatar to undergo capacity building and foster learning exchange. The main aim was to highlight Qatar’s current Icope implementation strategy and be support system to implement a similar model in Iraq.
Dr Abdulla al-Ansari, chief medical officer, HMC said: “Choosing Qatar as the first pilot site in the Middle East region is a great honour, and I appreciate the education and knowledge investment that Dr Hanadi al-Hamad, national lead of Icope with her team have made in sharing their expertise and helping to train our primary care teams involved in this amazing project. This is a real demonstration of what collaboration can achieve based on a joint commitment to deliver the best evidence-based care to our older population and now in extension in Iraq.”
Dr al-Hamad explained: “Icope care model reflects a unique community-based approach that will help to reorient health and social services towards a more person-centred and coordinated model of care that supports optimising functional ability for older people.”
Dr Hanadi continued: “The Icope healthcare approach helps broader health and social care systems respond more effectively to the diverse and complex needs of older people. The WHO Icope guidelines provide recommendations for healthcare workers on how to best assess older people’s health and effectively address their needs, ideally in community-based healthcare settings that are easy to access. The aim is to promote healthy ageing practices and prevent, slow, or reverse declines in the physical and mental capacities of older people.”
She added that working in close collaboration with the primary care services the Department of Geriatrics at HMC with the WHO Centre has taken lead in setting up the first Icope clinic in the entire Middle East region.
Icope is a public health integrated care programme for people above 60, which aims to support the independence of older people living in society. Icope proposes evidence-based recommendations for health care professionals to prevent, slow, or reverse declines in the physical and mental capacities of older people.
The workshop gave teams a platform to engaged in extensive discussions on how to adapt and implement the ICOPE programme most effectively for elderly population in Iraq.
Working in close collaboration with Primary Health Care Corporation, two Icope clinics have been set up at Al Wajba Health Centre and Rawdhat Al Khail Health Centre. The clinics have a reception desk, assessment and treatment rooms that focus on diagnosing and managing the numerous physiological changes that often occur with increasing age.
The Iraqi delegation visited Qatar Rehabilitation Institute where they were able to see the advancements in technology at areas such as the Gait Lab, Easy Street and in-patient paediatric ward.
Participants at the workshop
