Policy Digest

Nursing homes urged to improve services

Local authorities should improve the ability of communities to provide integrated medical and nursing services to meet the needs of seniors, according to a notice issued by the National Health Commission and eight other departments.

The notice, released on March 25, said that institutions providing such services should strictly adhere to laws, regulations and standards to ensure safety and professionalism.

Community health service centers should improve health education, health management and chronic disease prevention and control for older people. They should also improve services provided by family doctors and offer long-term prescription and home-based medical care to eligible seniors.

Additionally, community nursing facilities for the elderly should work actively to integrate medical care into their services if possible, the notice said, encouraging local hospitals to set up their service stations at the facilities.

Community health service centers are encouraged to collaborate with the facilities to provide their elderly residents with basic public health services. They should also sign contracts with the facilities and offer the seniors other medical services.

Furthermore, the notice said they should make better use of the internet in their efforts to integrate medical and nursing services.

It suggested local authorities work on creating smarter systems for home-based medical and nursing services and enable hospitals, community health service centers and nursing facilities to share medical and nursing records to improve the efficiency and quality of the services.

At the same time, the institutions are asked to strictly follow rules on internet security and health data confidentiality to protect patients.

NHC plan targets health of women and children

The National Health Commission issued a plan earlier this month to implement the State Council's plans for the development of women and children through 2030.

National health services for women and children are facing multiple challenges, from unbalanced development and inadequate and unevenly distributed resources, to a shortage of high-quality services, the commission stated.

Adding to the challenge, women of advanced maternal age and those who have given birth at least twice account for a larger proportion of pregnant women since national birth policies were readjusted, increasing the risk of complications and birth defects.

According to the plan, the national maternal mortality rate should decline to 12 deaths per 100,000 live births, and the neonatal mortality rate should drop to less than three deaths per 1,000 live births by 2030.

The plan tasked local health authorities with reducing the mortality rates of infants and children under 5.

It also called for narrowing the mortality rate gap between regions－particularly urban and rural areas－and for more premarital, preconception and prenatal medical tests to prevent disease among newborn babies.

The plan further stated that the rate of newborns undergoing screening tests for genetic metabolic disorders and hearing loss should be increased, and the rate of HIV mother-to-child transmissions should be reduced to less than 2 percent.