The Ageing Population in Healthcare; Role of Leadership Theories and Policies in the Modern Era

Over the year’s countries have experienced a rapid rise in ageing population. With increase in elderly population there has been a significant financial impact forced onto government healthcare institutions. Studies in the past have already stressed on this issue providing alternative solutions to deal with the ageing population. However, most studies have focused on healthcare governance and policy implementation aspects rather than the whole problem. This report focuses on providing solutions to healthcare institutions and management leaders on ways to tackle this problem using existing management and leadership practices incorporated with informatic tools.One of the drivers for increase in ageing population has been the continuous improvement in primary healthcare services (PHC). Healthcare organizations have been providing universal health coverage (UHC) in most countries using taxpayer’s money. In the elderly, chronic diseases are common due to the deteriorating body condition. Several studies have highlighted this concern as chronic illness follow the cycle of frailty, patients suffering from these diseases require constant care, medical-checkups and medications to survive. Chronic disease PHC was identified as the main factor driving the healthcare budget globally across several countries and one of the key challenges that needs to be addressed. Managing chronic diseases in elderly patients was identified to be the core problem faced by public healthcare institutions. In order to address this issue my report identified that using transformational leadership theory can be applied to manage the elderly population. The two I’s, idealized influence and intellectual stimulation factors were identified as theories that can be applied into the healthcare setup. Training and development for employees, innovation and creativity in the PHC and departmental leadership were identified as important management practices leaders can execute at organizational level. Telemedicine and implementation of an AI-based patient administration system (PAS) were identified as feasible solutions which can reduce the healthcare budget and provide early insights to map out the ageing population. In conclusion, my report identifies that implementing good governance practices at organizational level using effective policies with integrated health informatics solutions is the best way to tackle the growing concern of ageing population in a sustainable manner. My reflections from the module helped me understand different leadership and management practices that can be applied to address issues of ageing population