Health Care Services for the Elderly in Thailand: Views from Caretakers and Multidisciplinary Team on Access and Quality of Care

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the stakeholders’ opinions on elderly health care services focusing on the steps of integrated care. It was conducted as a quantitative research during February to March 2016. The population included elderly care-givers and multidisciplinary elderly care stakeholders. The samples were selected using cluster sampling from 4 regions of Thailand: North, Northeast, Central and South; then 4 provinces were selected from each region; and 236 subjects were enrolled using purposive sampling. Data were collected by using questionnaire with the reliability of 0.89; and statistical analyses employed were percentage, mean, and standard deviation. It was found that only home health care by family members or caregiver for elderly was in good level both in accessibility and quality of care. Emergency transportation from home was good in accessibility but was only at fair level in the quality. Disease surveillance, inpatient care, continued home health care by health care team and end-of-life care at home were in fair level. Elderly outpatient clinic, intermediate care, long-term care, day care, respite care, and hospice care were at poor level and needed to be improved both in the hospital and in day care services in the community. Intermediate care and long-term care at community were at very poor level. Altogether this study revealed that elderly health care in Thailand needs improvement in almost every aspect.