At the end of last year, the elderly population with registered residence of 60 years old and above in Guangdong reached 16.21 million, accounting for 16.1%. It is estimated that by 2030, this coefficient will exceed 20%, entering a moderately aging society. How to build a higher quality basic elderly care service system?

Recently, Guangdong issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Construction of Basic Elderly Care Service System" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Opinions") and released the "List of Basic Elderly Care Services in Guangdong Province" (hereinafter referred to as the "List"). On November 22nd, a press conference was held in Guangdong Province to promote the construction of the basic elderly care service system. The List will provide 29 service items in four categories: material assistance, care services, care services, and social preferential treatment for different types of elderly people. This year, the provincial finance has coordinated and allocated 889 million yuan for the construction of the elderly care service system.

The number of "elderly canteens" in the province is expected to increase to 3000 this year

At the press conference, Xiong Song, Deputy Director of the Provincial Department of Civil Affairs, introduced that the "Implementation Opinions" and "List" issued by Guangdong this time focus on the high-quality development of elderly care services, and build a basic elderly care service system framework from six aspects: target content, effective supply, supply channels, guarantee mechanism, quality supervision, and organizational guarantee. The Implementation Opinions consist of 6 aspects and 21 specific measures, including clarifying the content of basic elderly care service recipients, enhancing the effective supply of basic elderly care services, expanding the supply channels of basic elderly care services, improving the guarantee mechanism of basic elderly care services, strengthening the quality supervision of basic elderly care services, and strengthening the organizational guarantee of basic elderly care services.

"On the basis of the national list, our province will refine and optimize the content and standards, expanding the 16 items of the national list to 29 items, providing 29 service projects in four categories: material assistance, care services, care services, and social preferential treatment for different types of elderly people." Xiong Song said, "Next, various regions will formulate and release local basic elderly care service implementation plans and lists.", And the coverage and implementation level shall not be lower than the provincial requirements.

Regarding how to achieve the goals proposed in the Implementation Opinions, Xiong Song mentioned that in order to understand the practical needs that elderly people are most concerned about, clarify the target audience for elderly care services, civil affairs and other departments will establish a comprehensive assessment system for elderly people's abilities, and provide comprehensive assessment of abilities for elderly people aged 65 and above who have assessment needs upon application. At the same time, establish a statistical survey system for the condition of the elderly and basic elderly care service projects, and improve the basic elderly care service information database.

Xiong Song mentioned that on the basis of understanding the situation, Guangdong will carry out three service actions to provide precise services to groups such as elderly people in special difficulties: carry out aging friendly transformation for families of elderly people in special difficulties, incorporate aging friendly transformation for families of elderly people in special difficulties into the ten livelihood projects of the province in 2024, and carry out aging friendly transformation for no less than 22000 households of elderly people in special difficulties; Accelerate the construction of "senior canteens", and the number of "senior canteens" in the province will increase to 3000 by the end of 2023; Carry out visitation and care services for elderly people in special difficulties, establish a basic visitation and care service mechanism by the end of this year, start the investigation and investigation work for elderly people in special difficulties, and widely carry out visitation and care services by the end of 2024. By the end of 2025, achieve a monthly visitation rate of 100% for elderly people in special difficulties.

In addition, Xiong Song mentioned that the civil affairs department will deepen the implementation of the "High Quality Development Project for Hundred Counties, Thousand Towns, and Ten Thousand Villages", increase support for elderly care policies and measures in the eastern, western, and northern regions of Guangdong, accelerate the establishment of matching cooperation and paired assistance mechanisms, and achieve a coverage rate of no less than 55% for comprehensive elderly care service centers in townships by the end of 2023, and no less than 60% for comprehensive elderly care service centers in townships (streets) by the end of 2025, And according to the principle of filling in and filling out the gaps, at least one county-level support service facility (nursing home) should be built in each county (city, district), mainly for the care of disabled and partially disabled individuals in extreme poverty.

Over 1500 residential areas have undergone aging friendly and barrier free renovation

Financial funds play a strong supporting role in the construction of Guangdong's elderly care service system. At the press conference, Zeng Yan, a second level inspector of the Provincial Department of Finance, introduced that from 2021 to 2022, funds allocated by all levels in the province for the construction of the elderly care service system exceeded 10 billion yuan. In 2023, the provincial finance will coordinate and allocate 889 million yuan for the construction of the elderly care service system. The Provincial Department of Finance also requires that lottery public welfare funds used for social welfare at all levels be used to support the construction of the elderly care service system at a ratio of no less than 55%, and be coordinated with the construction funds of the elderly care service system arranged in the general public budget.

Zeng Yan mentioned that the Provincial Department of Finance will work with relevant departments in the province to further strengthen the performance management of funds for the construction of the basic elderly care service system, and link the allocation of funds with performance evaluation to ensure the effectiveness of fund utilization.

In terms of the medical insurance system, Dong Bingguang, Deputy Director of the Provincial Medical Security Bureau, stated that the bureau has issued the "Interim Measures for the Management of Medical Security in Medical Institutions in Guangdong Province", which will include eligible elderly care institutions with internal medical institutions in the management of medical insurance designated agreements.

"Medical institutions that comply with regulations, regardless of ownership form, business nature, level, or scale, can voluntarily apply for inclusion in the designated medical insurance agreement management, providing more convenience for elderly patients participating in basic medical insurance to seek medical reimbursement." Dong Bingguang said.

Nowadays, many elderly people still tend to take care of themselves at home. How is the progress of promoting housing aging friendly renovation in Guangdong? Yang Qinggan, Deputy Director of the Provincial Department of Housing and Urban Rural Development, introduced that Guangdong has listed the renovation of old residential areas as one of the ten practical tasks for people's livelihood for three consecutive years. Since 2020, the province has completed a cumulative investment of 12.5 billion yuan, started renovating 5700 old residential areas, and benefited 1.3 million households. Among them, over 1500 residential areas in the province have undergone comprehensive aging and barrier free renovation, and nearly 20000 elevators have been installed in existing residential areas. The Provincial Department of Housing and Urban Rural Development has also allocated a special fund of 170 million yuan to support the construction of 430 community sports parks suitable for elderly fitness and sports in various regions, in conjunction with the renovation of old residential areas and urban renewal.

In terms of barrier free environment construction, Yang Qinggan stated that as of September this year, the construction rate of new urban road barrier free facilities in the province exceeded 93%, and the construction rate of new public building barrier free facilities exceeded 90%. The Provincial Department of Housing and Urban Rural Development has also included accessibility and aging as important indicators in the already released livable community evaluation standards and the upcoming green community evaluation standards. At present, the province has created 3107 livable communities and 3293 green communities.

In response to the fire safety issues of elderly care institutions that concern the public, Yang Qinggan stated that as of August 23 this year, 498 elderly care institutions in the province have completed the fire design review and acceptance (filing) procedures, and another 178 elderly care institutions still cannot meet the requirements for fire design review and acceptance (filing) procedures after rectification. There are illegal activities and major fire safety hazards, and the civil affairs department has lawfully shut them down. The historical legacy issue of elderly care institutions in the province not completing the fire design review and acceptance (filing) procedures has been successfully resolved.

Content source: Guangzhou Civil Affairs