Jiangsu has recently rolled out a plan to promote high-quality development of integrated medical and elderly care services. The Implementation Plan for Promoting the Medical-Nursing Integration in Jiangsu, jointly issued by six departments in the province, seeks to expand the supply of medical and elderly care services and improve basic public services.

The plan sets out 22 tasks across seven areas focusing on improving supportive policies to deliver better services for the elderly by upgrading service networks and expanding the service supply. To implement full county-level coverage of integrated care facilities by the end of 2026, the plan specifies that at least one such institution will have been established in every county, county-level city and district in the province. By the end of 2027, each county, county-level city and rural-focused district will have established long-term nursing care units in at least one primary healthcare facility. The goal is to ensure full coverage of institutional management, professional training, and the long-term care insurance system across these areas.

In terms of improving service networks, guidance is provided to encourage areas with relatively abundant medical resources to convert some of the medical institutions of secondary grade or below into rehabilitation hospitals or nursing homes. The service provision will be focusing on the incapacitated elderly. The province will increase the supply of nursing beds, stipulating that in principle, no less than 80% of beds in newly built nursing institutions will be nursing beds. It will also support primary healthcare institutions to provide customized services for seniors aged 65 and above, enabling a greater number of elderly to access home-based medical consultations and inpatient care services.

To scale up service supply, the province will encourage eligible primary healthcare institutions to establish long-term nursing care units providing services such as chronic disease treatment, long-term nursing, rehabilitation, and palliative care for people who need long-term care, including those with functional or cognitive impairments, the bedridden and those in end-of-life care. It will also support elderly care institutions to establish standardized dementia-specific care units for professional geriatric care. It is expected that by 2027, at least 50% of competent elderly care institutions with more than 100 beds will have set up in-house specialized care units for the elderly with cognitive impairments.