A poster to publicize the 28th International Conference on Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services, slated for June 3-5 in Seoul. (Photo: HPH)

The 28th International Conference on Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services will take place in Seoul from June 3-5, 2020.

The upcoming HPH conference will be held at the Baekyang Nuri convention center in Yonsei University, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, under the theme “Health Promoting Health Care for Healthy Aging in the Era of Innovative Technologies,”  said Kim Ki-sook, head of the Health Managment Department at Seoul Metropolitan Dongbu Hospital.

 
The annual International Conference on Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services (HPH) is the main event of the International HPH Network. It is a forum for learning and exchanging knowledge and experiences on health promotion in and by hospitals and health services.

The annual HPH Conference usually attracts a very wide range of professionals – from health care practitioners to consultants, scientists, and politicians. On average, the conference hosts about 500 delegates per year.

The International Network of Health Promoting Hospitals & Health Services (HPH Network) was initiated by the WHO Regional Office for Europe as a settings approach for health care organizations to improve the quality of health care, the relationship between hospitals’ health services, the community and the environment.

Through this collaboration, the health and wellbeing of patients, staff and relatives will be strengthened.

The HPH Network is a "network of networks." In total, it consists of 20 National/Regional HPH Networks, collaborating to reorient health care towards an active promotion of health. Each National/Regional HPH Network consists of a minimum of three hospital and health service members.

According to the preliminary program of the Seoul 2020 HPH conference, the first plenary session will discuss how ageing and technology innovations affect health promoting health care.

Technological developments have implications for the provision of health services and health promotion - the different perspectives of patients, of health workforce and communities will be given specific attention.

The second plenary session outlines specific needs of older people and options of health services to respond to these needs in an age-friendly, health promoting way.

The right to health is a fundamental part for a life of dignity. It requires appropriate quality treatment, especially for older people with increased demands due to conditions like multimorbidity or neurocognitive disorders.

Any health care service has to adapt to these challenges. Examples of organizational and procedural measures that support age-friendly health care and health promotion services as well as the maintenance of mobility and autonomy will be presented. It also will be discussed whether a further diversification of health services might better respond to specific needs of older people – for example, people with dementia or for the very last stage in life.

The third plenary session looks at staff health. In many countries, the average age of the health workforce is rising, many health care professionals abandon health services looking for different occupational arrangements or retire before pension age. In contrast to this, in several countries, the legal retirement age is also rising.

Even if resources were available without restriction, employers would be well advised to promote staff health. The provision of good working conditions with offers and support for individual employees is an adequate approach to implement health promotion in health services.

What is the right mix of professions to provide best services to patients? Are there good models and strategies to optimize the mix of age groups in teams? Which working time models and shift work arrangements are appropriate for which age groups?

The fourth plenary session will present approaches and experiences in community cooperation and networking with respect to age: models of cooperation which help to prevent and cope with age related decline in abilities, models of integrating health services, social services and long-term care, hospice and palliative care in and with communities.

The fifth plenary session will debate in how far the “age-friendly hospitals and health services” can be seen a prototype for a holistic health promoting hospital.

“We will look how the concept of an age friendly hospital deals with the issues of equity and diversity, environment, health literate organizations, patient, family and citizen involvement,” according to organizers.

“Further, we want to discuss how the HPH concept and network can contribute to implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”