This year the WONCA Europe 2021 Conference brings a range of keynote presentations to the General practitioners & Family Doctors of Europe and the world, under the over-arching theme of “Practicing Person Centred Care”.

In the below video, Dr Andrée Rochfort (WONCA Europe Scientific Committee Member) introduces the topic of Elderly Care at the Virtual Conference, and what you can look forward to:

Elderly Care Session Highlights:

Among the themed sessions that we can strongly recommend to you are two innovative and thought-provoking keynote presentations on ethical issues in care of the elderly. These take place as part of the “CARING FOR OLDER PEOPLE AND ETHICAL ISSUES” plenary session on Friday, 9 July 2021 from 09.00-10.00 CEST.

1. IT’S NEVER TOO LATE FOR QUATERNARY PREVENTION IN CARE OF THE ELDERLY

Plenary Presentation – Friday, 9 July, 09:00-09:20 CEST

In his presentation, Carlos Martins will explore ethical aspects of over-intervention and quaternary prevention in the context of older patients. We will be encouraged to consider when the natural incentive of doctors to intervene and “do” things can potentially cause more harm than benefit for patients.

2. ETHICAL DILEMMAS IN THE CARE OF OLDER PEOPLE

Plenary Presentation – Friday, 9 July, 09:20-09:40 CEST

In this talk, Cees Hertogh will present on ethical dilemmas in elderly care and explore issues such as advanced directives, including contexts such as during early stages of dementia in patients.

The 2 plenary lectures will be followed by a LIVE Q&A session.

3. ETHICAL ASPECTS OF ELDERLY CARE

Round Table Session – Friday, 9 July, 10:30-12:00 CEST

After the plenary presentations there will be a virtual round table discussion session for all delegates to interact with the speakers, and with the Chair of WONCA Healthy Ageing Working Group, Dimity Pond, from Australia.

Nowadays, both governments and doctors are paying a lot of attention to prevention in order to diminish the burden of disease and thus keep health care sustainable and affordable. The first question is on which preventive activities we should focus when providing care for older people, especially the very old. Should quaternary prevention, protecting people from overmedicalization, be our main goal? The downside of quaternary prevention might be that we take or are misinterpreted as taking a ‘laissez faire, laissez passer’ approach of not providing enough care for our patients. How do we achieve a balance and how do we discuss this with patients? Secondly, what are the ethical dilemmas in discussing advance care planning with patients who have been recently diagnosed with dementia, and in discussing this with their families? When and how should we proceed with advance care planning? Which issues should be covered, which issues should perhaps be avoided? In this Round Table we will explore both themes in-depth, after the two plenary speakers have provided us with food for thought. In small groups, we will have two rounds of discussion on an assignment for each theme which will be introduced by Dimity Pond.

Why you shouldn’t miss it?

In these times of pandemic and climate change we also need to be mindful of sustainable healthcare, and finite resources. Balancing these challenges with person-centered care requires discussion and debate on these issues. We look forward to you joining us in this plenary session with our two experienced speakers on Caring for Older People and Ethical Issues.