5th European Congress

The scientific programme was structured over seven special lectures, 58 official symposia and 9 submitted symposia. More than 800 selected abstracts were presented both orally and in poster form. European Perspective More than 50 countries had contributed to the proceedings, which was held over four days in the beautiful city of Barcelona nestling in the Mediterranean. The conference covered all pertinent issues in both geriatrics and gerontology from an interdisciplinary point of view.

Dr Kalache, Director of the Ageing and Health Programme of the World Health Organisation in Geneva presented a slightly downbeat appraisal, I thought, of the current situation, particularly in relation to the developing world. Later in the day Prof John Pathy of the College of Medicine, University of Wales, Cardiff, delivered the opening lecture which was an historical overview of the quality of life for older people. It was a pleasure to hear one of the UK’s distinguished geriatricians give an historical insight into the development of his own service over decades at the University of Wales. It was quite clear that a single minded and resourceful geriatrician can succeed in developing a superb service for his older patients. Prof Pathy achieved his objective by focusing on the job in hand, by applying strong negotiating techniques, and through team building. It was quite clear from his delivery that he has been a formidable operator in these areas over many years in Wales. It was also clear, from the warmth of the reception he received from the audience, that he had made many friends and contacts in the world and European geriatrics arena.

The basics of Dementia
On Thursday I attended a session on the pathophysiology and mechanisms underlying the development of Alzheimer Dementia. It was nice to be reminded of the basic pathological mechanisms underlying this challenging disease at cellular level. The complexity of the condition is slowly being unravelled and with that comes the promise of more targeted pharmacological products in the near future, which will fundamentally alter the progress of this condition, rather than as now, ameliorating some of its consequences.

In the afternoon I attended a symposium on health and social protection systems for older people, which again gave a fascinating pan- European perspective. There was a particularly interesting paper delivered by Dr Pacolet of the Higher Institute of Labour Studies Catholic University of Leuven on “Social Protection for Older Persons with Dependency in the European Union”.

An elegant presentation outlined how individual countries were coping with the challenges of the current demographic picture of an ageing population. Overall it was clear from this paper that an optimistic view should be taken on the ability of the various systems throughout Europe to cope with the challenge of both social and medical care for older patients over the next 20-30 years.

My Thursday afternoon finished with an Interdisciplinary Symposium on Intermediate Care, when Prof Cameron Swift and myself delivered papers on the “Definition and Controversies of Intermediate Care” and the issues of predicting future needs around intermediate care. These two lectures were delivered again in the splendid main lecture theatre. It was an interesting, and not entirely pleasant experience to be blinded by the television lights as one delivered papers to an unseen audience whilst one’s head and shoulders were projected 20-30 feet high on a television screen behind the stage.

Prof Swift gave an elegant review of the issues around the intermediate care developments in the UK, particularly in the context of the National Service Framework. Again there were many positives of course, but the issue of fragmentation and loss of focus is always a concern.

Time out
Friday morning saw me taking a couple of hours off to take the tourist bus tour of Barcelona, keeping an eye open for the sights to do with the Olympics in the early 90’s and of course, the famous Sagrada Familia, which is the unmistakable symbol of Barcelona across the world. It is the achievement of Antonio Gaudi who never saw his work completed, but has fascinating works of architecture all over this city. For those who have an interest in architecture and history one could spend a week exploring Barcelona from this perspective alone.

Back at the conference I dipped into another Clinical Symposium, again featuring Prof Swift under the rubric of “The Role of Geriatrics”. From other presenters, the audience heard about the development of acute geriatric care in general hospitals in our neighbouring European countries. A paper was delivered by a colleague Dr Swine from the Department of Geriatrics at the University Hospital of Mont-Godinne in Belgium. Cameron Swift spoke about geriatrics and long-term care from the UK perspective.

I dipped into many of the oral paper presentation sessions. Again, there were a number of papers delivered by our colleagues here in the UK, from Sheffield, London, Liverpool, Newcastle, Bristol, Reading and others.

Later that evening delegates were received in the ancient governmental buildings in the centre of Old Barcelona by the Lord Mayor and distinguished colleagues of the city and congress.

There was some scepticism that the gentleman who delivered the welcome was in fact the Lord Mayor as, unlike his be-suited neighbours, he was dressed in a light linen jacket, open neck shirt and sported a head of flowing locks. He delivered an address in both Catalan, Spanish and English, but discussion with him following his welcome revealed that he was indeed the Lord Mayor and also a member of the Green Party, which is strongly represented on local government in Barcelona. A walk back to the hotel, of a couple of miles through the bustling streets of Barcelona gave a flavour of the vibrancy of life here in the late afternoon and into the night.

Quality of Life
I managed to take in a little of the Saturday morning programme. The closing plenary session was on the “Quality of Life, Multidimensional Aspects and Implications”. Our President, Prof Bob Stout delivered a paper on, “Quality of Life and Geriatric Care, A State of the Art.” Bob had also chaired a fascinating session, which touched on aspects of training medical specialists throughout Europe.

I flew out of Barcelona, my flight being delayed only 1 hour, having spent a concentrated 3½ - 4 days dipping into multifarious aspects of geriatrics and gerontology from a world and in particular, a European perspective.

The World congress is planned for Brazil on 26-30 June 2005. In the mean time, don’t forget the Irish Gerontological Society’s Annal Conference later this month.

Kevin Kelleher