▲ Hospital waiting room
A service designed to assist elderly individuals who experience difficulties visiting hospitals by providing support throughout the entire process—including mobility assistance, medical examinations, and picking up prescriptions—will be offered starting tomorrow (the 30th).
The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Health Insurance Service announced that they are launching the "Long-Term Care Hospital Companion Pilot Program" across 282 long-term care facilities to help long-term care beneficiaries who need medical treatment access hospitals safely.
Until now, many elderly individuals who are long-term care beneficiaries with limited mobility have faced difficulties traveling to hospitals or handling the utilization procedures on their own.
Patients could only visit hospitals if accompanied by family members, but when family members could not accompany them due to dual-income work or living far away, there was a burden of having to delay medical treatment or find separate assistant personnel.
This pilot program was designed to alleviate such difficulties and burdens experienced by seniors and their families.
A total of 282 long-term care institutions are participating in the program, including 170 integrated home care institutions and 112 senior care facilities that have partnered with integrated home care institutions.
For seniors with limited mobility, the service provides support for transportation from their departure point to the hospital, as well as registration and payment upon arrival, medical examinations, waiting for tests and treatments, receiving prescribed medications, and accompanying them back home after the visit.
The service providers are visiting care workers belonging to integrated home care institutions or nurses belonging to senior care facilities.
(Photo: Provided by Yonhap News TV, Yonhap News)
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