China plans to build more clin­ics spe­cial­iz­ing in geri­at­rics at major hos­pit­als and strengthen their cap­ab­il­it­ies as part of broader efforts to address the needs of a rap­idly aging soci­ety, accord­ing to a recent guideline released by the National Health Com­mis­sion.

The updated guideline on the estab­lish­ment and man­age­ment of clin­ics for eld­erly patients, issued on Thursday, replaces an earlier ver­sion from 2019.

It man­dates that hos­pit­als in the upper two tiers of the coun­try’s three-tier hos­pital sys­tem estab­lish such clin­ics for elder patients, which should include out­pa­tient con­sulta­tion rooms, wards and com­pre­hens­ive eval­u­ation rooms.

The num­ber of beds for older adults must be no fewer than 20 at ter­tiary hos­pit­als and at least 10 at sec­ond­ary hos­pit­als. Each hos­pital should have one phys­i­cian and two nurses for every three beds, the guideline said.

Offi­cial data shows that the num­ber of people age 60 and older in China reached around 310 mil­lion last year, account­ing for 22 per­cent of the total pop­u­la­tion. That pro­por­tion is pro­jec­ted to exceed 30 per­cent by 2035.

To meet rising demand, the num­ber of clin­ics for eld­erly care at major hos­pit­als has surged from about 1,500 in 2018 to more than 6,800 in 2023.

Wan Zhirong, deputy dir­ector of the geri­at­rics depart­ment at Aerospace Cen­ter Hos­pital in Beijing, said eld­erly patients often face mul­tiple health chal­lenges and com­plex care needs.

“Data shows that about 75 per­cent of eld­erly people in China suf­fer from two or more chronic con­di­tions sim­ul­tan­eously, includ­ing cog­nit­ive decline, high blood pres­sure, dia­betes and coron­ary heart dis­ease,” he said. “They also fre­quently exper­i­ence prob­lems such as cog­nit­ive impair­ment, Par­kin­son’s dis­ease, frailty, falls and mal­nu­tri­tion.”

At his hos­pital, Wan said annual vis­its to the depart­ment have increased about 20 per­cent in recent years. In 2023, out­pa­tient vis­its exceeded 15,000, with people age 80 and older account­ing for 45 per­cent of hos­pit­al­ized patients.

Wan emphas­ized the import­ance of integ­rat­ing mul­tidiscip­lin­ary spe­cial­ists — espe­cially in neur­o­logy, car­di­ology and rehab­il­it­a­tion medi­cine — into spe­cial­ized care.

“Fol­low­ing acute treat­ment, many eld­erly patients still require rehab­il­it­a­tion or home-based care,” he said. “This makes devel­op­ing effi­cient refer­ral sys­tems that link hos­pit­als with com­munity clin­ics and senior care facil­it­ies essen­tial.”

Accord­ing to the guideline, these clin­ics should include pro­fes­sion­als in internal medi­cine, onco­logy, tra­di­tional Chinese medi­cine, rehab­il­it­a­tion, men­tal health, nurs­ing, phar­macy and nutri­tion to offer mul­tidiscip­lin­ary ser­vices and incor­por­ate tra­di­tional ther­apies.

Related depart­ments should also be equipped with basic resus­cit­a­tion equip­ment, includ­ing tracheal intub­a­tion devices, manual res­pir­at­ors, elec­tro­car­di­o­gram mon­it­ors and car­diac defib­ril­lat­ors.

The guideline encour­ages adding sup­port infra­struc­ture such as aux­il­i­ary bathing facil­it­ies, elec­tric nurs­ing beds, self-trans­fer devices, enteral nutri­tion infu­sion pumps and rehab­il­it­a­tion train­ing equip­ment.

Wan said his depart­ment eval­u­ates hos­pit­al­ized eld­erly patients bey­ond their primary dia­gnosis, assess­ing cog­nit­ive func­tion, nutri­tional status and risk of falls. The depart­ment also con­ducts mul­tidiscip­lin­ary con­sulta­tions and col­lab­or­ates with com­munity hos­pit­als and elder care insti­tu­tions to ensure patients receive fol­low-up care after dis­charge.

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