From Hospital to Home: Andong Shifts the Direction of Care

Establishment of Dedicated Integrated Care Team
Comprehensive Local Support Covering Medical, Nursing, and Housing Services

Andong City is launching a new care model to respond to the challenges of a super-aged society.

Andong City announced that, effective January 1 of this year, it has established an Integrated Care Team within the Department of Senior Citizens and Persons with Disabilities, and will officially begin implementing a community-based integrated care project at the end of March.

Andong City Hall

The core of the integrated care project is to provide medical, nursing, and daily care services for vulnerable groups such as the elderly and persons with disabilities in a single, unified system.

Moving away from the traditional approach that relied on hospital or facility admission, the focus is on "residence-based care," supporting individuals to continue their daily lives in their own familiar environments.

Andong City will completely overhaul the region’s previously fragmented care services. The city plans to systematically assess the current status of local care resources and services, and minimize gaps in care by building an integrated support system that organically connects public and private resources.

The main services provided include: home medical care, home nursing care, daily living support, improvement of residential environments, and community linkage for discharged patients. After comprehensively assessing the level of care needed for each applicant household, the city will connect them to customized services through appropriate institutions, tailored to each recipient's health condition and living situation.

With the launch of the Integrated Care Team, the city aims to proactively respond to demographic changes such as deepening aging and the increase in single-person households.

Rather than limiting support to short-term measures, Andong City expects to achieve long-term social cost savings by establishing a regionally self-sufficient care system that seamlessly integrates medical, welfare, and housing services.

An official from Andong City stated, "The establishment of the Integrated Care Team marks a starting point for transforming the paradigm of care administration. Beginning in March, we will build a robust, field-oriented system so that citizens in need of care can receive timely and appropriate support through the integrated care services."

Attention is now focused on whether the "Andong-style integrated care" model, which upholds the dignity of life for local residents until the very end, can become a new standard for local government care policies.