Published on: 2026-05-15
Source: The People’s Republic of China in Russian –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Beijing, May 15 /Xin Hua/ — The “Internet + home care” service makes life easier for elderly and less mobile patients. A 78-year-old Beijing resident named Li, bedridden after a stroke, needs regular replacement of a gastric tube. Previously, each hospital visit was a trial for her son — he had to rush from work, call an ambulance, struggle to carry his elderly mother down the stairs, and then wait for hours in line… One such hospital visit exhausted the entire family.
On the eve of May 1, relatives of a resident of Beijing with the surname Li found out that there is a service “Internet + Home Nursing” operating at the Beijing Aerospace Hospital of general profile. Her son submitted an application through a mobile app to call a nurse. Upon arriving at their home, the nurse replaced the catheter in less than half an hour and also thoroughly instructed the relatives on catheter care in everyday life. “I submitted the application on the phone – and a professional nurse comes home immediately. It’s incredibly convenient,” shared Li’s grandmother’s son.
Today, the need for home care among people with limited mobility, elderly patients, post-operative patients, and people with restricted mobility is steadily increasing. The “Internet + home care” service is becoming an important link in improving accessibility and the quality level of medical care, in accordance with the urgent needs of the population.
According to the State Committee for Health Affairs of the PRC, as of the end of 2025, the population aged 60 and over in China reached 323 million people, including more than 45 million elderly people with disabilities and cognitive impairments.
At the time when China celebrated International Nurses Day on Tuesday, the demand for home care services continues to grow, as a result of which internet services and nursing services are becoming a key issue of public welfare in the context of improving and modernizing the healthcare system.
FROM A PILOT PROJECT TO A PUBLIC PRACTICE
In February 2019, China launched a pilot program for the provision of medical services under the “Internet + home care” initiative for the first time. A few days later, the health authorities of Beijing announced the start of accepting applications to participate in the pilot project under this program.
“Since there is a public need, someone had to take the initiative,” says Wan Syaoyin, head of the nursing department of the Beijing Aerospace General Hospital. Having submitted an application from the hospital, she succeeded in making the Beijing Aerospace General Hospital a part of the first pilot institutions in Beijing that responded to the specified program.
At first, Wan Syaoyin, together with other medical staff, visited patients at home during lunch breaks or after work. The nurses initially evaluated the condition of the patients and the home environment by phone, and then conducted on-site inspections to ensure the safety of the operations.
Yan Tsyuyan, one of the first nurses to participate in the program, recalls how in May 2019 she received her first request to provide home care. The patient was an elderly person, bedridden for a long time, and the family members were unable to take him to the hospital.
During the next three months, Yan Qiusan visited the patient at home during her free time from work to wash wounds, change dressings, and adjust his treatment, as well as teach family members the basics of nursing the sick. “Unfortunately, I cannot do everything alone,” she said. “Family members need to learn how to properly care for the patient and provide him with long-term protection and care for his health.”
Yan Tsuyan has been providing home care services for eight years. She has noticed that more and more families are turning to professional home care in order to improve the quality of life for patients and to provide them with more attentive care.
Currently, such services are becoming increasingly common not only in hospitals in Beijing, but throughout China. In addition to the general-profile Beijing Aerospace Hospital, the Beijing “Shijitan” Hospital under the Capital Medical University is also actively developing specialized home nursing services for oncology patients.
After the launch of pilot programs in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi, and several provinces in 2019, an increasing number of regions began to implement similar initiatives. In particular, in the city of Nanning (administrative center of the Guangxi-Zhuang Autonomous Region), the “Nanning Cloud Hospital” platform was launched, which by October 2025 had included 82 medical institutions and 6,492 nurses. By the end of 2025, more than 20 thousand patients had received home rehabilitation services through this platform.
According to data from the State Committee for Health Affairs of the KNB, currently almost 6 thousand medical institutions across the country provide more than 60 types of home care services in seven categories, including care for mothers and infants, geriatric care, treatment of chronic diseases, rehabilitation assistance, and hospice care.
EFFECTIVE MEANS OF COMMUNICATION
For many hospitals, professional experience has the same fundamental significance for the development of home care services as it does for safety.
A strict staff selection system has been implemented at the general-profile Beijing Aerospace Hospital, allowing only those who provide home care services to be admitted. Only nurses with at least five years of clinical experience, higher qualifications, and excellent performance indicators are allowed to such work. In addition, candidates must undergo theoretical training, pass clinical exams, and complete a comprehensive certification.
“Technical skills alone are not enough,” Van Syaoyin emphasized. “Working from home requires communicativeness, the ability to adapt, and interpersonal communication skills. Not everyone is suited for this kind of work.”
A specialized authorization system is also used in the hospital. Nurses are assigned to service depending on their experience and specialization. For example, wound treatment specialists will be responsible for changing dressings, and diabetes specialists will handle cases related to diabetes.
In turn, the Beijing hospital “Shicizitan” cooperates with third-party platforms to ensure security. The platform is connected to the public security system, which allows verifying the identity of the user who placed the order. It includes an emergency call function with one button press for the nurse on the visit, as well as full audio recording of the service provision process with the possibility of subsequent playback.
In turn, the Beijing hospital “Shijitan,” which provides more than 70 types of home care services, cooperates with a third-party technological platform to ensure safety. The platform is connected to the public security authorities’ system to verify the identity of patients, provide emergency signaling for nurses, and record service processes for monitoring.
Hospitals also try to motivate nurses to voluntarily participate in this program. The Beijing hospital “Shizitan” introduced a point accrual system that ties participation in the home nursing program to certification for awarding professional titles, and also provided nurses with the opportunity to receive direct payment for services rendered during non-working hours.
RADIO OF THE UNITED BUDUSHCHIY
Despite the rapid development of the home care services sector, in the opinion of industry experts, there are still a number of serious problems in this area, including the absence of unified tariffs, the incompleteness of the regulatory and legal framework, and the limited coverage of territories.
At the end of 2025, a special survey on these topics was conducted in 184 state hospitals in Beijing. The data showed that more than 85 percent of heads of nursing departments in state hospitals believe that home nursing services should be included in medical insurance, and 87.5 percent called for improved supervision and management in this area.
As of today, pilot programs for long-term care have been launched in 49 cities of China, but the population size and the level of benefits provided vary significantly in different regions.
“If home care services are ultimately included in the list of services covered by medical insurance, this will significantly reduce the burden on families,” Van Xiaoyin said.
In some regions of China, such experiments have already begun. Thus, in the city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province, services such as the installation of a nasogastric tube and the replacement of a urinary catheter have already been included in the medical insurance system, which allows in real-time mode to reimburse expenses for home care services.
Many hospitals advocate for the development of unified national industry standards for the provision of home nursing services. Currently, institutions apply various rules for staff selection, procedure conduct, and risk management, but overall industry norms are absent.
“Only with the presence of unified service standards can they become standardized and reproducible,” said Wan Xiaoyin, expressing hope for the creation of a national qualification and authorization system.
Lü Lisuyei, head of the nursing department at the Shijitan Hospital in Beijing, in turn called for the development of a network territorial structure. “For the long-term development of the industry, the participation of a larger number of entities is necessary – individual hospitals will not be able to cover all needs,” she emphasized.
In her opinion, it makes sense to establish interaction between large multidisciplinary hospitals and district centers. This will allow creating a multi-level system: large hospitals provide technological support, solution of complex cases, and personnel training, while local institutions take on regular examinations, basic care, and long-term monitoring. As a result, a complete network of assistance is formed.
“High-quality and stable home care services are an important social need related to the improvement of the population’s welfare. This is a direction that benefits people and must necessarily continue and be improved,” summarized Van Syaoyin. -0-
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