Japan Press Weekly

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2021 November 3 - 9 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

54% of elderly care receivers state that their caregivers are their children

The survey results released recently by the Tokyo metropolitan government show that more than half of the elderly in Tokyo who received nursing-care or assistance in 2020 answered that their main caregivers are their "children". These elderly people also said that among their caregivers, those who spend the longest hours providing care to them are their children.

The results are revealing the real condition of caregiving which falls far short of "socialization of care", the aim of the public nursing-care insurance program.

According to the data, 70% of the elderly who were judged to be in need of nursing-care or some form of assistance actually received some kind of care in fiscal 2020. Of them, 54.2% received care or assistance from their "children" followed by from "home helpers or caregiving professionals" (35.4%) and from "spouse" (30.8%).

Compared to the previous survey conducted in fiscal 2015, the "children" classification increased by 5.4 percentage points while "caregiving professionals" decreased by 4.9 percentage points.

The government ruled by the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties has been cutting back on public nursing-care services. It barred the elderly in need of "level 1 and 2 care" from special nursing-care homes and removed the elderly in need of "level 1 and 2 assistance" from the recipient list of home-care and visiting-care insurance benefits.

The government in August this year reduced its supplementary payments for food and housing expenses for low-income elderly people at care homes, causing an increase in the burden on low-income residents at care facilities.