Japan Press Weekly

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2017 April 19 - 25 [LABOR]

JCP Motomura urges gov’t to regulate one-person nightshift at care centers

Japanese Communist Party representative Motomura Nobuko at a Lower House committee meeting on April 19 demanded that the government revise the present requirements for the necessary number of staff at care facilities and prohibit having only one staff member working the nightshift in preparedness for contingency.

As an example of a bad staff arrangement, Motomura cited a nursing-care home in Iwaizumi Town in Iwate Prefecture where nine facility residents were killed during nightshift hours when a major typhoon hit last year. She pointed out that only one caregiver was at work at that time.

Showing survey results conducted by the Japan Federation of Medical Workers’ Unions (Iroren), Motomura said that only one nightshift worker was on duty at all surveyed facilities, including group homes and small size multipurpose senior centers.

In the interest of disaster prevention, crime prevention, and safety and security, she demanded that the government stop permitting one-person nightshift assignments and improve the standards of personnel positioning at medical, nursing-care, and other welfare facilities. She also demanded an increase in the state budget to enable an increase in the number of night-time nurses and staff.

Minister of Infrastructure Ishii Keiichi in response said, “The ministry in coordination with the Ministry of Welfare will provide support for ensuring necessary disaster prevention schemes in facilities for users in need of nursing-care or who have concerns about living at home.”

Past related article:
> 60% of nursing-care facilities force workers to work 16 hour shifts: Union survey [February 18, 2017]