Creating a society in which people can live long lives in good health by extending the nation's healthy life expectancy is vital for boosting the sustainability of Japan's social security system. Improving preventive measures that can be taken before people reach the point where they need nursing care is an urgent task.
A Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry panel of experts has compiled a report on steps to promote health improvement for senior citizens and the implementation of a system for them to be able to live without nursing care. The report calls for municipalities to implement such steps in an integrated manner that transcends existing system frameworks to ensure such work can be conducted more effectively and efficiently.
At present, steps to improve elderly citizens' health, such as measures to counter lifestyle-related diseases, are covered by medical insurance and conducted separately from care prevention, which includes programs to boost people's motor functions and is covered by nursing care insurance.
Many elderly people have multiple ailments. As they get older, they face increasingly complex problems such as a decline in physical functions and fewer social connections. Many of these issues span both medical treatment and nursing care.
The creation of a municipality-based system that precisely corresponds to the conditions of individuals by consolidating measures to manage health risks for local residents is an appropriate aim, as a municipality is the closest administrative body to residents.
It is anticipated that services covered by health insurance, including health consultations, will be conducted at venues where elderly people congregate for recreation or physical exercise such as community centers.
Such a system could identify people who need support in terms of both medical and nursing care and efficiently enable the appropriate services to be provided to them.
Establish cozy atmosphere
This also would be effective as a measure to prevent and remedy frailty before a person needs nursing care.
Steps to prevent elderly people from becoming frail are included in the public services of the health care system for elderly people aged 75 and older, run by prefectural-based associations. However, as the system makes it difficult to provide care to individuals, it has hardly been used.
Unifying efforts to avoid the need for nursing care by taking advantage of the venues where elderly people congregate will make it possible to craft wide-ranging measures to fend off the onset of frailty, including greater social participation.
Some local governments have started holding health consultations together with classes explaining how people can avoid the need for nursing care, and dispatching public health nurses to these venues. Being able to receive several services in one place has large merits for elderly people.
The integrated implementation of such services in municipalities will necessitate the stationing of more public health nurses and other experts who can do this work. The associations in each prefecture must take responsibility and secure the necessary human resources and funds.
There also should be more sharing and use of medical care and nursing care data. If this data could be collated and analyzed, authorities could more accurately grasp the health condition of individuals and the characteristics of each region.
The challenge will be how to seek action from those who have little interest in health issues. The proportion of elderly people going to such venues is stuck at about 4 percent. Authorities must think outside the box and create an environment in which anybody can freely go to the venues, such as by establishing them at places including shopping malls.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nov. 29, 2018)
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
