A boost for senior care services in five new towns

Senior care services in five new towns will be improved with the creation of 15-minute senior care service circles and new complexes, Shanghai's civil affairs authorities announced today.

Shanghai aims to develop the new towns in Jiading, Qingpu, Songjiang, Fengxian and Nanhui as “independent and comprehensive node cities.”

In these towns, construction of senior care facilities will be beefed up and senior care services enhanced, the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau said during a press conference on the implementation of the city's first elderly-care services law that goes into effect Saturday.

The law mandates that community-based senior care service facilities must be set based on a minimum of 40 square meters per 1,000 people.

The standard will be higher in the five new towns with a goal of locating service facilities within a 15-minute walk for seniors, including senior homes, daycare centers and canteens, said Jiang Rui, deputy director of the bureau.

Large-scale senior care complexes will be built in the five towns, featuring the integration of healthcare, health management, disease prevention and intervention, fitness and leisure, culture, entertainment and tourism.

The law requires the city to provide convenience for the elderly population in transportation and mobility, and both hospital and administrative services. For Internet services, public service providers must take into consideration accessibility for the elderly population and introduce smart information services tailored to their needs, while traditional ways of providing services should be improved.

The city has launched campaigns to help seniors who are able to use smart phones adapt to the digital age for things like medical treatment, transportation, QR code scanning, payments and shopping, which will cover about 1 million people this year, the bureau said.

"Regular trainings will be held to eliminate the digital barrier that exists for many elderly residents," said Jiang.

Smart senior service platforms have also been launched, and an increasing number of smart senior care products will be released for the convenience of the elderly.

The law also provides legal support for the development of the senior care service industry with regulations on the rating of senior care agencies, service quality monitoring, as well as supervision and management for funding and credibility, said Jiang.

The city has almost 5,000 beds at senior homes serving those with cognitive disorders, and it will continue working on a sound nursing and protection system for seniors with cognitive disorders and physical disabilities, she said.

Shanghai's elderly population is estimated to be more than 5.3 million, over 800,000 of whom are age 80 or above, according to the bureau.

The law also requires no less than 60 percent of the city's welfare lottery funds be used on senior care services, and senior care service integration in the Yangtze River Delta region will be stepped up in areas such as senior care service policies, standard drafting, and supervision and management.

Senior care service agencies in the region will continue offering "cross-city" services for seniors as another 25,000 beds will be earmarked to accommodate seniors in the region this year.

Last year, 57 senior care service providers in 20 cities in the delta region earmarked more than 25,000 beds for those requiring cross-city senior care services.

The bureau said trainings on the implementation of the law have been conducted among civil affairs staffers, involving more than 111,000 people.