Dear colleagues, partners and friends,

Four years ago, a shared vision brought us together: to advance Geriatric Medicine across Europe, particularly in countries where the discipline is still emerging, and to help ensure that older people receive the care they need and deserve, wherever they live.

What began as an initiative rooted in the Global Europe Initiative of the European Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS) grew into PROGRAMMING – PROmoting GeRiAtric Medicine in countries where it is still eMergING CA21122, a four-year European COST Action supported by EuGMS as Grant Holder.

As PROGRAMMING approaches the completion of its COST-funded journey (2022–2026), we are delighted to share its achievements, acknowledge the many people who made them possible, and, above all, invite you to help take this work forward.

Four years of collaboration, knowledge and impact

With an allocated COST budget of approximately €860,000, PROGRAMMING has grown into a vibrant and enthusiastic international and interprofessional network of more than 450 participants from 48 countries, connecting clinicians, researchers, educators and different stakeholders committed to improving healthcare for older people.

This European investment in networking, professional development, knowledge exchange and international collaboration has generated a substantial body of scientific, educational and practical knowledge and resources. The challenge now is to ensure that these outputs are disseminated, used, adapted and translated into sustained improvements in education, professional practice and healthcare for older people beyond the Action's four-year funding period.

Through its five Working Groups and numerous collaborative initiatives, the Action has:

• Mapped Geriatric Medicine education, training and practice across Europe, identifying important differences between countries and several opportunities for improvement.
• Generated new scientific evidence on educational needs in the care of older adults, including a major multinational, multilingual survey involving more than 5,900 healthcare and social care professionals and medical students. Its findings highlighted important unmet educational needs in comprehensive geriatric assessment, chronic pain, dementia care and other fundamental areas of Geriatric Medicine.
• Developed consensus-based proposals for the content and framework of geriatric education and training, addressing professionals working in primary and home care, acute and subacute care, and long-term care, together with approaches to interprofessional learning and educational implementation.
• Produced scientific publications and complementary research initiatives, addressing professional competencies, educational priorities, ageism, gender equity, interprofessional care and other important aspects related to healthcare for older people.
• Strengthened professional networks and capacity building through scientific meetings, webinars, training schools, Short-Term Scientific Missions, grants, stakeholder engagement and international collaboration. Over the four years, PROGRAMMING awarded a total of 131 grants, while its hybrid meetings, online meetings, webinars and training schools recorded more than 2,300 participant attendances, reflecting the scale of its capacity-building, educational and knowledge-sharing activities.

Beyond these tangible outputs, PROGRAMMING has also created opportunities for professionals at different career stages to acquire new skills, exchange experiences, develop research projects, establish international collaborations, and strengthen local initiatives that draw on Geriatric Medicine expertise to promote high-quality care for older people.

We extend a particular thanks to everyone who participated in the PROGRAMMING educational needs survey. Their contribution helped establish an international evidence base on educational needs and informed the development of proposals for geriatric education and training.

Introducing the PROGRAMMING Toolkit: our legacy in action

One of the most important achievements of PROGRAMMING is the development of a practical Toolkit designed to make the Action's knowledge, experience and resources accessible and useful beyond its formal lifetime.

Rather than simply documenting what has been accomplished, the Toolkit is intended to facilitate the practical use of PROGRAMMING's outputs in education, research, clinical practice, advocacy and collaboration. By bringing these resources together in one place, it provides a starting point for professionals and organisations wishing to adapt the Action's work to their own national and local contexts.

It brings together six complementary areas of resources, including:

• Scientific evidence and research resources: peer-reviewed publications and information on accessing the multinational educational needs dataset for further research projects.
• Education and training: recorded lectures, webinars, scientific meetings and educational activities, alongside the training frameworks developed through the Action.
• Practical tools for implementation and advocacy: four targeted Policy & Advocacy Briefs addressing the needs of healthcare professionals, educators, older people and civil society, and healthcare systems and policymakers, supported by multilingual dissemination resources; a Practical Glossary of Geriatric Medicine; materials promoting respectful language; and other practical resources.
• Learning from practice: experiences and examples of international exchanges, professional development and capacity building.
• Communication and dissemination: materials to raise awareness and support engagement with professional organisations, educational institutions, civil society and decision-makers.
• Discovering PROGRAMMING and its legacy: resources introducing the Action, its evolution and the collaborative journey behind its achievements.

Some resources can be used directly, while others may be adapted to local educational, linguistic or healthcare contexts, subject to the applicable permissions and acknowledgement requirements. Further materials and ongoing initiatives will continue to be developed or made accessible.