The Ministry of Health and Welfare has begun gathering on-site feedback to institutionalize caregiving services at long-term care hospitals. The ministry believes that hospitals directly hiring, training and managing caregivers can improve service quality and patient safety.
On the 13th, Second Vice Minister Lee Hyeong-hun of the Ministry of Health and Welfare visited Seosan Senior Specialized Hospital to review operations where caregivers are directly employed and held an on-site roundtable to discuss ways to institutionalize caregiving services at long-term care hospitals.
Seosan Senior Specialized Hospital has participated in the pilot program supporting caregiving at long-term care hospitals since 2024. Under the program, the hospital directly recruits and manages caregivers and oversees their training and work schedules.
The pilot program for caregiving support at long-term care hospitals subsidizes part of caregiving costs with national funds for severely ill patients and seeks to improve service quality through caregiver training and management. From April 2024 through the second half of 2026, 19 long-term care hospitals in 10 regions are participating.
At the roundtable, participants discussed the direction for institutionalizing caregiving services at long-term care hospitals, as well as experiences with direct employment of caregivers, recruitment and training, working conditions, staffing, and measures to manage service quality.
In particular, on-site feedback suggested that a system in which hospitals directly hire caregiving staff and manage their training and work is effective in improving service quality and patient safety. However, a key task cited for the path to institutionalization is how to reduce on-site burdens such as personnel management and expense that hospitals will have to bear, as well as securing a stable caregiving workforce.
The ministry said it will reflect the on-site feedback in future system design. Its plan in institutionalizing caregiving services is to consider not only reducing patients' and families' caregiving cost burdens but also ensuring a stable caregiving workforce and managing service quality.