For many elderly people living in nursing homes, matters such as applying for long-term care insurance, renewing medical manuals, and certifying pension benefits often require family members to make a special trip to the street service hall. Now, this situation is changing.Recently, Jing’an District took the lead in piloting the introduction of community affairs service points in nursing homes, bringing 189 government service items directly to the elderly.

01 Government service window in nursing home

On weekday afternoons,located at No. 269 Huangshan Road, Jing’an DistrictIn the lobby of the first floor of Heyang Huangshan Nursing Home at No. 269, family members of the elderly frequently come to the ‘Jinglin Bangban’ service point for consultation. Staff lightly tap the screen, and the other end of the video connects to the street community affairs acceptance service center window, where materials are uploaded, information verified, and forms printed. The whole process is very smooth.

A remote virtual extended service window for community affairs has been opened in the nursing home.

Ms. Dong is one of the first users. Her mother has been living in the nursing home for a long time. In the past, when handling long-term care insurance business, she had to take time off to go to the community affairs acceptance service center. She had to go once to submit the application, and again after the assessment to receive the grade confirmation materials. If there was a queue at the window, half a day would pass.‘Now, when I come to visit my mother, I can print the long-term care insurance materials on the way, and also replace the nearly used medical record booklet,’ Ms. Dong said.

This convenience comes from the ‘Jinglin Bangban’ service point opened this year. It is equipped with an intelligent dual-screen all-in-one machine and a remote assistance system, which can handle government services such as medical insurance inquiries, pension benefits certification, disability matters, and long-term care insurance applications. Residents can communicate face-to-face with street staff via video on-site, achieving remote number taking, business acceptance, information inquiry, and material printing.

As the manager of the nursing home, Le Jianhua, director of Heyang Huangshan Nursing Home, deeply understands the needs of the elderly and their families. She said that dozens of elderly people are currently living in the home, many of whom are around 90 years old, and many have mobility issues. Their children are often ‘younger elderly’ themselves. ‘For such families, being able to make one fewer trip is a real convenience.’

The elderly in the nursing home said that in the past, when they had policy questions, they would wait for their children to come and ask. Now there is a service point downstairs, so they can directly consult the staff for anything unclear. ‘We can also print out details of every medical insurance expense, which is much more convenient.’

In addition to the elderly and their families, many nearby residents also come here to handle business. Across the street from the nursing home, there are several large residential areas. Some elderly people walk less than 100 meters to get here, whereas going to the street service hall requires crossing multiple intersections. Reporters learned that the businesses frequently handled at this point are closely related to the needs of the elderly, including long-term care insurance applications and grade confirmation printing, medical insurance balance inquiries, and medical record card replacement.

02 Continuously improving services based on needs

Why does a government service window appear in a nursing home? This goes back to a resident’s suggestion.

In the second half of last year, a resident Mr. Lin reported through the people’s suggestion collection channel of Gonghexin Road Subdistrict, Jing’an District, that after his elderly family member moved into Heyang Huangshan Nursing Home, handling long-term care insurance and other business required repeated trips to the street service hall, which was time-consuming and laborious. He hoped that some government services could be extended to the nursing home.

After receiving the suggestion, Zhu Jun, a staff member of the Gonghexin Road Subdistrict Petition Office, studied and found that Mr. Lin’s problem was not an isolated case. Among the elderly-related convenience suggestions collected in the past half year, ‘inconvenience for elderly in nursing homes to handle affairs’ became a relatively concentrated issue reported by the public. Subsequently, the subdistrict, together with the community affairs acceptance service center and neighborhood committees, conducted in-depth research in nursing homes and surrounding communities.

The research found that for the elderly living in nursing homes and their families, handling related matters online is not as proficient as for young people. At the same time, the large residential areas around the nursing home have a high degree of aging, and residents have a strong demand for nearby services.

After research, Gonghexin Road Subdistrict refined scattered demands into common issues, formed a special research report, and proposed the suggestion of introducing the ‘Jinglin Bangban’ service in nursing homes. Subsequently, the district civil affairs department, considering the service scale, surrounding coverage, and public needs, designated Heyang Huangshan Nursing Home, which has over 300 beds, as a pilot.

The ‘Jinglin Bangban’ service point is staffed with assistance personnel.

To lower the usage threshold for the elderly, the service point also has assistance personnel. The staff not only operate the equipment but also help people organize materials and fill out forms. For complex business, they communicate directly with street staff via the remote system.

Wang Jun, a staff member at the nursing home, said that the biggest feature of this equipment is that it ‘moves’ the street’s service window to the nursing home. ‘In the past, people had to go to the street service hall to queue for a number. Now they can queue remotely. Even if the street service window is busy, the elderly can handle business at off-peak times without having to stay on site.’

In addition to manual assistance, the equipment also features a digital human intelligent consultation system. Residents can inquire about processes and print material lists. The system knowledge base is also continuously updated with policy changes.

During actual operation, new demands keep emerging. Wang Jun said,Currently, most local business can be handled through the remote system, but some cross-district business is still limited by system permissions. If the elderly have previously handled related matters in other districts, some materials cannot be remotely retrieved and printed temporarily, and they need to go to the corresponding district’s street office.‘If data between districts can be interconnected, enabling more cross-district remote services, it will be more convenient for residents.’

Next, the relevant departments of the district will continue to rely on the people’s suggestion collection platform to gather public opinions and suggestions, optimize the ‘Jinglin Bangban’ service content according to actual needs, and systematically build an integrated convenience service system of ‘care for the elderly, assistance services, and grassroots linkage.’

Source: Shangguan News · Liberation Daily Disclaimer: This platform is committed to industry sharing and exchange. The article does not represent the platform’s views. Copyright belongs to the original author. If there are any source labeling errors or infringement of your legitimate rights, please contact us. We will promptly correct and delete. Thank you.