Can the Geriatric Day Hospital act as a hub for services for older people across the spectrum of ageing from active ageing to advanced frailty?

Abstract

This article examines the potential of the Geriatric Day Hospital to address the challenge of an aging society, which has begun to place an emphasis on the promotion of active and healthy aging, yet faces rising numbers of pre-frail and frail older adults with complex care needs. Can the Day Hospital model become a hub for the care of older adults across the spectrum of aging? This article explores its origins and traditional role in delivering Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA), assesses how it is currently being used to identify, triage and manage frailty, providing reablement, chronic disease management and anticipatory care planning, and discusses future models focused on the prevention, surveillance, and monitoring of frailty. It will examine how such approaches could increasingly deploy information communication technologies (ICT) using the Geriatric Day Hospital as a hub to maintain older adults in their home environment, to promote active aging, while both preventing and managing frailty.