ASOURCE Navi

Japan is experiencing rapid aging, with the population aged 65 and over currently exceeding 35 million and predicted to peak at approximately 39 million in 2042. Under these circumstances, the demand for medical care and nursing care is expected to increase further after 2025, when the baby boomer generation will be 75 years old or older. For this reason, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is promoting the establishment of a comprehensive community care system so that elderly people can continue to live their own lives in the areas they are familiar with.

The government is promoting regional medical initiatives to develop an efficient, high-quality medical care system by differentiating the functions of hospital beds, with an eye on future medical needs in each region. The regional medical initiatives aim to optimize the allocation of medical resources, and by promoting functional differentiation of acute care beds, convalescent care beds, and chronic care beds, they aim to provide efficient medical care that meets the medical needs of each region. This initiative is essential to ensure the quality of medical care while optimizing medical expenses. Community-based comprehensive care systems play a major role in regional initiatives.

The community-based comprehensive care system is a system that provides housing, medical care, nursing care, prevention, and lifestyle support in an integrated manner so that people can continue to live the way they want in the areas they are familiar with, even if they become severely dependent on nursing care. This system will play an important role, especially as the number of elderly people with dementia is expected to increase. There are large differences in the progress of aging from region to region, with the population of people aged 75 and over rapidly increasing in large cities and gradually increasing in towns and villages, so the community-based comprehensive care system must be built by municipalities and prefectures according to the characteristics of the region.

Municipalities will develop and implement nursing care insurance business plans every three years with the aim of achieving this by 2025, and will build a comprehensive community care system based on the autonomy and initiative of the region. The central role in this process is the comprehensive community support center. These centers provide comprehensive consultations for local elderly people, advocate for their rights, create support systems, and assist with nursing care prevention, and provide comprehensive support for improving health care and promoting welfare for the elderly. There are 5,431 comprehensive community support centers nationwide, and the total number reaches 7,397 including branch offices (as of the end of April 2023).

In order for elderly people to continue living in peace in the areas they are familiar with, it is necessary for the entire society to support not only the elderly who need care, but also their family caregivers. Local governments are promoting necessary initiatives to support family caregivers, thereby reducing the burden on caregivers and improving the quality of life for elderly people.

In order to effectively build a comprehensive community care system, it is important to simultaneously improve support for individual elderly people and develop the social infrastructure that supports it. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is promoting "community care conferences" as a method to achieve this. These conferences are forums where relevant local organizations work together to discuss support measures that meet the needs of each elderly person and create specific support plans.

Cooperation between relevant medical and nursing care institutions in the local area is essential for elderly people with illnesses to be able to recuperate in familiar environments such as their own homes and continue to live the way they want to. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is promoting the creation of a system in which relevant institutions can cooperate and provide integrated home medical and nursing care through multi-disciplinary collaboration. This system will create an environment in which elderly people can live with peace of mind while receiving the medical and nursing care they need in their local area.

By building a comprehensive community care system and coordinating a regional medical initiative, we aim to create a society in which the elderly can continue to live in peace of mind in the communities they are familiar with. This initiative is based on the autonomy and initiative of each region, and requires support measures that are tailored to the characteristics of each region, making it possible to flexibly respond to the different issues that each region faces. There are many issues that need to be overcome, such as resolving the shortage of human resources, improving the quality of nursing care services, changing the awareness of local residents, and securing financial resources, but by building a system in which local residents, medical and nursing care workers, and government agencies work together to support the elderly throughout the region, we hope to create a sustainable society in which everyone can live with peace of mind.