Nurses provide home services for seniors through app

BEIJING: A pilot project in several large cities and provinces will allow seniors who need medical care to request home nursing services through the Internet.

The service is likely to develop quickly to meet the huge demand from China’s rapidly aging population, according to a plan released by the country’s top health authority.

Certified medical institutions in six municipalities and provinces covered by the pilot programme, including Beijing, Shanghai and Zhejiang province, have a higher population density, and greater proportion of people 60 years or older, the National Health Commission said.

Nurses taking part in the programme must have at least five years of clinical experience, and data gathered should be safely stored and be accessible to supervisory authorities.

Services covered by the programme should be in high demand and easy to perform outside medical institutions, it said. Institutions can develop their own online platforms.

The pilot programme will end in December. Based on experience from the programme, the commission will improve existing policies to better meet people’s diverse health demands, it said.

About 150 million people in China aged 60 or above have chronic diseases, accounting for 65% of the age group. They include about 40 million with partial or complete disability, according to the National Health Commission.

Zhang Xiaoli, a bank employee in Beijing, said heard about the nursing services and thinks they can prevent patients and their families from having to line up at hospitals.

“But there should be regulations to ensure the services provided at home are of the same quality as at hospitals or clinics.”

Liu Zhiwen, director of Xiguan Community Health Center in Beijing’s Changping district, said it has been providing home services for nearby residents for many years, but has not tried to dispatch nurses via mobile phone apps.

“The demand for home services, such as transfusions, is very big here and in neighbouring communities, especially among the elderly and disabled,” he said.

“But we only have a few nurses who are constantly occupied, and we can only send them to the homes of residents who are most in need.”

Safety is also a top concern for such services, he said, adding that cost is also a consideration.

Unlike services at hospitals or clinics, patients have to pay all the expenses incurred during home services, as such fees are not covered by basic medical insurance, he said.