According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, elderly care service sector should focus on home-based and community-based elderly services, and the elderly care establishments should mainly take care of disabled or demented elderly people. On July 6th, the Ministry of Civil Affairs published the 13th Five-Year Plan for Development of Civil Administration (“the Plan”) printed and distributed jointly by the Ministry and the National Development and Reform Commission. It is proposed in the Plan that 35-40 beds should be provided for elderly care service for every 1000 elderly people by 2020.

The communique published by the Ministry of Civil Affairs on the statistics related to the development of national social services in 2015 shows that, by the end of 2014, there are 94110 elderly care service establishments and facilities in China, offering 5,778,000 beds for elderly care services, i.e., 27.2 beds for every 1,000 elderly people. It is said that the number of beds increases by 11.5% over the previous year.

Focusing on home-based and community-based elderly services

There will be 35-40 beds for elderly care services for every 1,000 elderly people. But, will that be sufficient? The Ministry of Civil Affairs explains that the elderly care service sector in the future will be based on elderly care services at home, supported by the community services and complemented by elderly care establishments. That is to say, elderly people will be cared mainly at home and in the community.

What services will be provided for home-based elderly care in the future in China? The Plan suggests launch of a home-based elderly care service platform, on which a wide range of elderly-friendly services will be offered, such as emergency call, reservation of housekeeping service, health management, buying service, food and drink delivery, service payment, and rehabilitation and auxiliary products.

It is required in the Plan that day care centers, nursing homes, elderly’s activity centers, mutual-help elderly care service centers and other community-based elderly care service establishments and facilities be well equipped for elderly’s medical care, rehabilitation, assistance, and cultural and recreational activities. A day care center shall be built as an elderly supporting facility according to requirements in new towns and new residential neighborhoods (residential areas), and synchronously planned, built, accepted and delivered for use with the residences.

Elderly people living in extreme poverty, etc. as key targets of protection

Will the difficulty in securing a bed in a nursing home be addressed in the future? The Plan clearly states that an admission evaluation system shall be established in the public elderly care establishments, for the purpose of protecting the needs of those elderly people who are living in extreme poverty, have financial difficulties, have lost the only child or have made special contributions, for elderly care services. That also means, it will be no longer true that everyone is qualified for being admitted to a nursing home.

It is learned that the admission system has been adopted in the public elderly care establishments in Beijing. Li Hongbing, Deputy Director of the Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs, said that 70% of the beds in the elderly care establishments in Beijing are for elderly caring and nursing use. Elderly care establishments and facilities take disabled and demented elderly people as the main service targets for their long-term professional care services.

Li Hongbing also said, it is provided in the Measures for Evaluation and Management of Admission to Public Elderly Care Establishments in Beijing (“the Measures”) that the applicants for admission to a public elderly care establishment include “the targets of government support and protection, the targets of protection in a family with difficulties, and the targets of protection by preferential services”, and it is also suggested in the Measures that “those disabled elderly persons or elderly persons aged above 70 years from a family with special difficulty in family planning may apply for services with reference to the services for the targets of protection in a family with difficulties and the targets of protection by preferential services”.