Classification and Accreditation for Senior Care Organization Was Issued

On 18 February, State Administration for Market Regulation and Standardization Administration of the P.R.C. jointly held a press conference and issued 646 national standards included the Classification and Accreditation for Senior Care Organization. Senior care organizations apply for classification and accreditation voluntarily, and they will be graded 5 levels from one star to five stars from bottom to top in accordance with their comprehensive service capacity. The standard will be officially enforced on 1 July, 2019.

Li Banghua, Director of Senior Service Department of Ministry of Civil Affairs of the P.R.C. introduced that there are 29,800 registered domestic senior care organizations and 3928,000 beds. With the aging situation continuously accelerating, an increasing number of seniors choose to spend the rest of life in senior care organizations. The Classification and Accreditation for Senior Care Organization Standard fills the blank of national standard of classification and accreditation, enhances the transparency of level accreditation as well as provides a convenience for elders to choose satisfactory senior care organizations. 

According to Li Banghua, the Classification and Accreditation for Senior Care Organization raises 102 specific demands and divides senior care organizations into five ranks, which are level Ⅰ, levelⅡ, level Ⅲ, levelⅣ, levelⅤ from bottom to top. The icon of ranks is formed from five-pointed stars. The higher the rank, the stronger the comprehensive capacity is. 

The Classification and Accreditation for Senior Care Organization specifies the basic requirements and conditions to be satisfied for applying for classification and accreditation, including licenses, qualifications and resources for staff, space allocation, operation and management and service, and requirements that each grade of senior care organizations should meet. “Those foundational requirements and conditions are mainly derived from relevant laws and regulations as well as the basic requirements of security in the process of providing service. They are the “starting line” for apply classification and accreditation.” said Li Banghua.

The Classification and Accreditation for Senior Care Organization also states that the senior service organizations voluntarily submit the classification and accreditation. The total points are 1000, in which 120 points for environment, 130 points for equipments and facilities, 150 points for operation and management, 600 points for service. It also lists each item and its score. For instance, there are 7 items to evaluate environment including convenience of traffic, surrounding facilities, barrier free design, indoor temperature, etc. There are 13 items including space of living room, toilet and bathroom, catering area, rehabilitation area and psychological counseling area to evaluate equipments and facilities. There are 7 items to evaluate operation and management including administration management. 13 aspects, such as service of admission to and discharge from hospital, daily care service, dietary service, sanitation service, medical care service, hospice service and home care service are items to evaluate service.     

      Li Banghua said in the next step, the Ministry of Civil Affairs will formulate operating rules and methods with the guidance of Standardization Administration of the P.R.C. to promote the official implementation on 1 July, 2019.