Japan Press Weekly

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2015 February 18 - 24 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Serious shortage of nursing homes causes elder abuse

It recently came to light that an operator of private care apartment complexes for the aged abused residents with dementia. This has resulted from a serious shortage of public special nursing-care homes.

Tokyo’s Kita Ward on February 17 ordered the medical corporation to stop its abusive treatment of 160 elderly people living in its three assisted living facilities in the ward. At least 20 residents suffering from cognitive impairments have been subjected to mistreatment, including being tied to beds and being locked in rooms, according to the ward.

As the three facilities are not classified as a fee-based nursing home under the law on social welfare for the elderly, they do not have to undergo inspections by the Tokyo Metropolitan government. These kinds of facilities, which take advantage of a legal loophole, have become common due to the serious shortage of nursing-care facilities. The number of elderly people on the waiting lists for admission to public nursing-care homes amounts to 43,000 in Tokyo alone and 530,000 nationwide.

Because the government payments to nursing-care providers for their services is extremely low, most nursing facilities are struggling to maintain a sufficient number of staff, which lead to poor service. Workers at the care apartment complexes in question tied dementia residents to beds to make it easier to control them.

The government’s plan to further cut the payments for care services by 2.27% will worsen the situation and increase the number of nursing care “refugees”. The government should give up the plan as it will lead to destroying the dignity of the aged.