Integrated care for dementia in Taiwan

In 2018, Taiwan began its Dementia Care Policy by passing the 2018-2025 Taiwan Dementia Plan 2.0 based on the World Health Organization's "Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia 2017-2025". "Dementia Diagnosis, Treatment and Care" was one of the action plans which prompted the government to set up "Dementia Care" as a whole new item to its national policy called Ten-year Long-term Care Plan 2.0. Under "Dementia Care", 73 Dementia integrated care center (DICC) and over 350 Dementia Community Service Sites (DCSS) were established in 2018. This service structure brought the entire nation to upgrade its Dementia care by efficiently doing diagnosis, treatment and care management, supporting caregivers, building a community safety net, providing professional training and the public dementia literacy education. The purpose of this paper was to discuss how Taiwan planned for Dementia Care and how DICC were implemented by using two models in Taichung City: Chung Shan Medical University Hospital and Taichung Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Close to 1,000 dementia clients and their family caregivers were served; close to 5,000 professionals and the public were trained by a multi-disciplinary teamand care managers. It is our hope that this paper will contribute to how Taiwan built its dementia care system and to strengthen future dementia care policy, system and service delivery by analyzing the structure, process and outcomes of the integrated care centers so people with dementia and their families can live with quality and dignity.