| What
is a Geriatric Health Services Facility ? |
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A Geriatric Health Services Facility ("kaigo roujin hoken shisetsu"in
Japanese)were created in 1988 to provide nursing care and rehabilitation
services to enable elderly who do not need to be hospitalized to return
home.
These long term care facilities are being opened in every community
to provide nursing care in combination with healthcare and welfare
services to support the return of elderly to their homes.
They also play a distinctive role in supporting home care.
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| Why
was this type of facility introduced ? |
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Among the elderly who need
long term care, many have a stable medical condition that does not require
acute medical treatment but rather medical care and assistance with
daily activities based on nursing care.
Geriatric Health Services Facilities were established as intermediate
facilities to provide their users with both appropriate medical care
and assistance with activities of daily living to facilities their return
home.
This kind of facility for the elderly provides the following services
to their users:
Rehabilitation to enable them to return home, medical care centered
on providing necessary nursing and caregiving, and assistance with activities
of daily living.
In addition, these facilities also operate Temporary Stay and Day Respite
Care services for the bedridden elderly who live with their families,
and along with other Long Care Insurance service providers, give support
for users to remain with their families.
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| How
are Geriatric Health Services Facilities different From other Long Term
Care services and other facilitybased services ? |
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On April 2000, the new public
Long Term Care Insurance system began, operating as a social insurance
system supplemented with public subsidies.
Geriatric Health Services Facilities were classified as one kind of
service covered by long term care insurance (Table
1, 2).
Long Term Care Insurance provides long term care services chosen by
users within spending limits determined by the level of care they are
certified to need. There are six ranks for levels of care (Table
3).
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| The
Gold Plan 21 and the Current state of infrastructure for Long Term Care
Service |
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The number of elderly persons
needing long term care are predicted to reach 2.8 million in 2000,
3.9 million by 2010, and 5.2 million in 2025 when the elderly population
reaches its peak.
The demand for long term care is accordingly predicted to rise, making
it essential to prepare quickly the basic infrastructure for delivering
that care.
Until now, building the basic infrastructure for health and Welfare
for the Elderly(Gold Plan),"first promulgated in1989, and subsequently
revised and renamed ,"the new Ten Year Plan for Promotion of the
Health and Welfare of the Elderly(New Gold Plan)."
From 2000, a new five year plan, the , "Gold Plan 21", continues
to build basic infrastructure but is also designed to consolidate health
and welfare policy for the for the elderly (Table
4).
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