Sichuan is a major province by population. Data shows that by the end of 2025, the province had 21.5 million people aged 60 and above and 15.3 million people aged 65 and above. As population aging continues to deepen, how can elderly care services be brought closer to older adults? How can services such as senior canteens and door-to-door bathing assistance better cover communities? How can medical care and elderly care be further connected? These elderly care issues, which concern millions of households, now have new legal protections. On September 24, reporters learned that the Regulations on Elderly Care Services of Sichuan Province (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations) were adopted at the 29th session of the Standing Committee of the 14th Sichuan Provincial People's Congress and will take effect on December 1, 2026. The Regulations consist of 7 chapters and 78 articles, setting out systematic provisions on the elderly care service network and the supply of elderly care services. They emphasize that basic elderly care services focusing on the care of disabled and cognitively impaired older adults should be strengthened, and that an elderly care service supply structure based on home care, supported by the community, professionally underpinned by institutions, and integrated with medical care should be built, promoting coordinated development of elderly care undertakings and the elderly care industry. A series of services closely related to the daily lives of older adults have been further brought onto a legalized and standardized track.

Meal assistance and bathing assistance written into the regulations, with elderly care services further extending to older adults' immediate surroundings

For most older adults, elderly care first takes place in the familiar home and community. How can elderly care services be brought closer to older adults? This time, the Regulations further extend many specific services to families and communities. The Regulations make clear that policies supporting family-based elderly care should be established and improved, and families should be supported in assuming elderly care responsibilities. Article 20 proposes that civil affairs departments, together with other relevant departments and units, should provide help to family members caring for older adults, including caregiving skills training, short-term respite care, elderly care information matching, and psychological crisis intervention. Employers should support the children of older adults in fulfilling their obligations of nursing care and family companionship and guarantee their lawful entitlement to statutory nursing leave. Elderly care services will also increasingly enter older adults' homes. The Regulations encourage and support elderly care institutions, domestic service enterprises, property service enterprises, and others in providing care services and other supportive services in older adults' residences, including daily living care, meal assistance, cleaning assistance, emergency assistance, mobility assistance, bathing assistance, medical assistance, and emotional comfort. In addition to services delivered to the home, older adults may also have elderly care beds in their own homes. The Regulations mention support for carrying out age-friendly home renovations and, in accordance with relevant provisions, providing appropriate subsidies to households of older adults that undertake such renovations. At the same time, they support the establishment of family elderly care beds and promote linkage and service interaction with institutional elderly care beds. Elderly care services will also be further extended into communities. The Regulations propose promoting the establishment of a meal assistance service network for older adults and supporting elderly care institutions, community elderly care service facilities and stations, catering enterprises, and others in carrying out meal assistance services for older adults. They support providing bathing assistance services for older adults through community bathing points, mobile bathing vehicles, and in-home bathing assistance. They also support elderly care service institutions, village and neighborhood committees, and others in providing older adults with daytime care, short-term respite care, rehabilitation nursing, and rental of rehabilitation assistive devices. For older adults with disabilities and those who are disabled or cognitively impaired and have higher care needs, the Regulations clearly support elderly care institutions in strengthening care services for such older adults, increasing the supply of nursing beds, and developing long-term care and care services for older adults with cognitive impairment. Notably, the Regulations also propose supporting older parents and their children with disabilities to move into elderly care institutions together, and supporting capable elderly care institutions in admitting people with severe disabilities.

Promoting integrated medical and elderly care, extending from daily living care further to medical rehabilitation

When older adults enter advanced age, disability, or cognitive impairment, elderly care often involves not only daily living care but also medical, rehabilitation, and nursing needs. How to better connect elderly care and medical care is also a key focus of the Regulations. The Regulations encourage qualified medical institutions to establish geriatric departments and encourage the promotion and application of traditional Chinese medicine techniques suitable for older adults and integrated medical and elderly care services with traditional Chinese medicine characteristics, providing older adults with services such as traditional Chinese medicine health consultation and assessment, intervention and conditioning, and follow-up management. At the same time, qualified medical and health institutions are guided to carry out rehabilitation nursing, hospice care, and integrated medical and elderly care services. Specifically, qualified medical and health institutions are supported in providing home-based medical services such as home hospital beds and door-to-door visits to older adults who are homebound and disabled, cognitively impaired, chronically ill, advanced in age, or living with disabilities, or who have mobility difficulties or genuine hardships. Eligible medical expenses are to be included in the scope of medical insurance payment. For older adults residing in elderly care institutions, the Regulations further promote linkage between elderly care institutions and medical resources. The Regulations propose promoting the establishment of contracted cooperation mechanisms between elderly care institutions and medical and health institutions, supporting medical and health institutions in opening green channels for appointments and medical visits for elderly care institutions, and providing services such as medical rounds, health management, appointment-based medical visits, emergency rescue, and traditional Chinese medicine health care to resident older adults. At the same time, they support incorporating qualified integrated medical and elderly care institutions into unified management within tightly integrated medical alliances, promoting linkage among referral, medical care, rehabilitation, nursing, hospice care, medication, and elderly care services within medical alliances. As services extend to families and communities, professional elderly care service talent also needs to keep pace. The Regulations make clear that systems such as vocational skill level certification for elderly care service workers and appointment and assessment for professional and technical positions and skilled positions should be improved, career development channels between high-skilled talent and professional and technical talent should be smoothed, and the professionalization and specialization level of elderly care service personnel should be raised.