Project News

The National Seminar of the Project on Seamless Health and Social Services Provision for Elderly Persons (S-TOP) was held on 20 and 21 July 2022 in Bangkok. The primary purpose of the Seminar was to share lessons learned for sustainable development of Seamless Services for Older Persons in Thailand, prior to the end of the project in October 2022. The Seminar provided an opportunity to share results from project activities at pilot sites, especially innovative initiatives from each site with the rest of Thailand.

The seminar was held in a hybrid format, with over 100 participants, mainly project stakeholders, attending at the venue in Bangkok, and over 400 stakeholders involved in Seamless Care across Thailand participating online.

Dr. Reiko Hayashi, Deputy Director General of the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research in Japan, gave a keynote speech on the Development of Ageing Policies in Southeast Asian Countries, and Dr. Akinori Hamamura, Honorary Hospital Director of Kokura Rehabilitation Hospital, gave a lecture on the Experience of Seamless Care Development in Japan. Through these two presentations, the experiences from Japan and Southeast Asian countries on Ageing Policies and Seamless Care Development were shared among participants.

Experts from the project shared the status of project activities towards policy recommendations and some of the results of pilot site activities. Eight main pilot sites of the project set up booths at the venue to present the results of their activities. In addition, during a panel discussion, each site shared their innovative initiatives that supported the implementation of Seamless Care.

Furthermore, based on the results of these pilot sites, representatives from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, Ministry of Interior and the National Health Security Office took the stage for a panel discussion on the need for collaboration between different sectors to enable sustainable provision of Seamless Services, which was followed by an exchange of views and a lively discussion with the audience and online participants.

After the two-day seminar, it was confirmed that the realization of Seamless Care for Older Persons in Thailand is steadily progressing. On the other hand, a number of challenges were also identified, such as the shortage of professionals to provide appropriate rehabilitation services and the additional funding to support required services. All stakeholders involved concluded the seminar by recognizing the achievements of the project, and also reaffirming the need for continued efforts in the future to address rapid ageing in Thailand.