Closing Remarks by Associate Professor Ding Yew Yoong, Executive Director, GERI at the Knowledge to Practice Webinar on Dementia Care Across the Continuum (24 Nov 23)

Distinguished colleagues, partners, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being a part of GERI’s fourth and final Knowledge-to-Practice webinar for 2023. I am sure you would all agree that we had rich content and a good discussion on various aspects of dementia this afternoon.

On behalf of GERI, I would like to thank Associate Professor Dan Yock Young (Deputy Director-General of Health, Health Services Group, Ministry of Health, Singapore) for gracing us and joining this webinar. 

Appreciation also goes out specially to Mr Jason Foo from Dementia Singapore, Ms See Yen Theng from the Agency for Integrated Care, Dr Mark Chan representing the Chapter of Geriatricians, and of course all our esteemed speakers and panelists for joining us today. Thank you all for sharing your insights, and for cracking open some hard yet much-needed discussions during the Q&A and the panel session.

Drawing on what our speakers have said, I would suggest 3 'Ws' as framing questions to help us identify the opportunities ahead.

The first question is “When” – when can we act? It is clear that for HealthierSG, we need to start with prevention, early identification and early intervention for dementia. But yet, at the same time, we need to also better address care at the end-of-life.

The next question would be “Where” – where can we act? Certainly at acute care, but beyond that, in primary care, community settings and even at nursing homes, as alluded to today. 

The last question and the third “W” is “Who” – who matters? Of course, persons living with dementia are central to all our efforts, but we should not forget all stakeholders, and some of the most important are their families, caregivers and care providers.

The stakes are high. As for GERI, we have been working in this area with relevant knowledge creation through research and evaluation, but also working in collaborative research projects with our partners, and then trying to move towards timely knowledge transfer.

Talking about knowledge transfer, we all need to work quickly and bridge this information to targeted spheres of policy and practice, and through the appropriate mechanisms.

Dementia is one cross-cutting health and social challenge, and so we need players from all diverse sectors and disciplines to come together to the table for meaningful dialogue, collaboration and finally, action. This is one example where we organise this webinar to bring together many of us who are stakeholders in this journey ahead. 

This should lead to further action. I am sure, and I hope, that this webinar and what we have discussed today will spur us into action, in our own ways and together as well. 

We are all grateful for the efforts of our colleagues from Chapter of Geriatricians, Society for Geriatric Medicine and GERI, for making this session possible. 

Have an excellent evening ahead and a good weekend also. Thank you.​