Two Mandatory National Standards in the Elderly Care Service Sector Released

The State Administration for Market Regulation and the Ministry of Civil Affairs held a special press conference in Beijing on September 4 to introduce the mandatory national standards related to eldercare services. At the meeting, it was mentioned that two standards were recently approved and issued: the Basic Specifications for Elderly Care Institutions and the Criteria for Determining Major Accident Hazards in Elderly Care Institutions. Among them, the Basic Specifications for Elderly Care Institutions focus on the full lifecycle of elderly care institutions, from establishment and operation to exit, and define baseline requirements for safety and service quality. They cover seven aspects: site selection and buildings, facilities and equipment, admission and discharge management, basic services, safety management, operation management, and evaluation and improvement, putting forward a total of 90 specific requirements. The Criteria for Determining Major Accident Hazards in Elderly Care Institutions, meanwhile, standardize the determination of major hazards in the safety management of elderly care institutions, clarify the determination procedures, and set out 25 direct determination factors, 28 comprehensive determination factors, and two categories of exclusion circumstances, helping frontline management personnel identify risks more accurately. Relevant departments said that these two standards will help improve the safety保障 and risk prevention capabilities of elderly care institutions, and also provide a unified basis for industry supervision.