[Information regarding what happens in the case of a client who is using the services of visiting care for persons with severe disabilities is hospitalized]
February 8, 2016
The ban on care workers providing assistance for hospitalized patients with intractable diseases is set to be lifted from the beginning fiscal year 2006.
Kyodo News Service
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) has decided to lift the ban on the use of care givers providing assistance during the course of hospitalization for patients with intractable diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and people with severe disabilities such as those who have suffered spinal cord injuries in accidents. Due to many of these patients being unable to communicate because of their inability to speak or move their bodies, the Ministry aims to enable them to communicate with nurses through their care workers. This affords people with severe disabilities a sense of peace of mind throughout the duration of their hospitalization.
The MHLW will include the revision in the draft amendment to the Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities Act to be submitted to the current Diet session. The MHLW hopes to pass the bill as soon as possible and have it fully implemented during the fiscal year 2018. Among the welfare services for persons with disabilities, the “visiting care for persons with severe disabilities,” in which a helper visits the homes of patients with intractable diseases or persons with severe disabilities who are paralyzed and need constant care for long hours at a time, will be revised so that the service can be used despite hospitalization due to temporary deterioration of their health condition. In the case of the aforementioned, the care giver watches over the client and informs the hospital of the client’s needs, physical condition, or sudden change in condition. Nurses on the other hand, will still be in charge of meals, bathing, turning over, etc.
*There are approximately 10,000 users in Japan who use the service “visiting care for persons with severe disabilities”.
