中国长期照护的政策选择

Policy Options for Long-term Care in China

老龄工作提上国家日程已经30余年,21世纪以来,社会养老和社区为老服务亦进入国家政策。但迄今为止,老龄工作从指导思想到政策制定都未将针对失能老人的长期照护服务与养老服务做明确区分。用养老服务涵盖甚至替代长照服务,导致政策靶向不准,结构失衡,人才短缺,致使对失能失智老人的照料严重不足。在中国城乡仅失能人口已近4千万人的严峻形势下,"十三五"时期将设置独立的长期照护政策规划提上国家的重大议程,进行政策基础工程建设,已经刻不容缓。

It has been more than three decades since aged care moved on to the national agenda,and social provision and community services for the aged have been part of national policy since the beginning of this century.So far,however,work on aging issues,from guiding principles to policymaking,has never clearly discriminated between long-term care services for the disabled elderly and general aged care.Bundling long-term care services under general care of the aged,or even replacing the former by the latter,hasled to misdirected policy targeting,unbalanced structures and a lack of staff,resulting in a serious shortage of care for elderly people who suffer from disability or dementia.The situation is serious:in urban and rural areas,the disabled population alone already amounts to nearly 40 million.During the 13 th Fiveyear Plan period,putting an independent long-term care policy high on the national agenda and carrying out work on policy fundamentals is an urgent task.