Only 14 out of the more than 1,000 long-term care facilities in the nation are ranked as first-rate institutions by the government, Saint Mary’s Hospital Luodong superintendent Chen Yong-shing (陳永興) said yesterday, citing a government study.
According to a 2010 evaluation conducted by the Ministry of the Interior, only 1 percent of the 1,033 nursing homes or long-term care facilities in Taiwan are rated as excellent, Chen said, adding that the average waiting time for a bed in these institutions is three months.
He said a shortage of certified long-term carers and nurses was the main cause of the low quality of these facilities and prevented them from improving their services.
Chen called on the government to solve the problem by enacting measures such as amending laws to encourage or require corporations to invest in long-term care facilities or establishing a mechanism to offer financial aid to medical students who decided to enter the field.
“In Yilan County, there were 299 new nurses in one year, but 209 left the workforce during the same time,” he said. “For instance, Saint Mary’s Hospital Luodong [in the county’s Luodong Township (羅東)] is 89 nurses short, 21 percent of the total number of nurses it needs. At one time, more staff were quitting than being hired.”
The shortage has had a domino effect on the hospital’s hospice rooms, with “seven beds closed due to a lack of nurses,” Chen said.
Long-term carers are in high demand as well. The Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training trains about 6,000 long-term carers every year, but the turnover rate is as high as 70 percent, he said.
“A lot of nurses and carers leave due to a stressful and poorly equipped work environment and low salary,” Chen said, urging the new Ministry of Health and Welfare to pass the long-term care services draft act to improve the quality of healthcare services for the rapidly growing elderly population.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
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