A senior couple rest in their room at a nursing home in Siping, northeast China's Jilin Province, Dec. 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Zhang Nan)
BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- A newly-released national standard has set criteria for grading the service quality of China's nursing homes, Tuesday's China Daily reported.
The standard, which will take effect on July 1, aims to improve the elderly's access to quality services.
According to the standard, all nursing homes must meet basic requirements such as possessing certified doctors and barrier-free facilities, establishing health records for every resident, and organizing at least one health check every year.
Elders have a group birthday party in a nursing home in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian Province, April 15, 2017. (Xinhua/Song Weiwei)
Nursing homes will be divided into five grades, with Grade 5 representing the highest level. Grades will be valid for three years. To extend the certification, an application for review will be needed.
The grading is voluntary and nursing home operators must apply to the authorities to be graded, Li Banghua, an official for senior affairs at the Ministry of Civil Affairs, was quoted as saying.
The number of people 65 years old or above reached 167 million as of the end of 2018 on the Chinese mainland, accounting for 12 percent of the population, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The standard was released at a time of rapid population aging, with demand for better elderly-care services expected to increase over the next few decades.