Seoul Metropolitan Northern Hospital Expands 'Integrated Nursing and Care Service'... Saves 90,000 KRW per Day

Seoul Metropolitan Northern Hospital will expand and operate the 'Integrated Nursing and Care Service,' where professional nursing staff provide caregiving and hospitalization services, starting from the 18th. When admitted to the integrated nursing and care service ward, caregiving costs are expected to be reduced by about 90,000 KRW per day compared to general wards.

The integrated nursing and care service is a system in which nurses, nursing assistants, and ward support staff affiliated with the hospital provide caregiving and hospitalization services to patients without the need for caregivers to stay with the patient or hire private caregivers. According to Seoul City on the 17th, the integrated nursing and care service is currently operating with 1,324 beds across seven municipal hospitals, and with the addition of 40 beds at Northern Hospital, the total will increase to 1,364 beds.

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The hospitals currently providing integrated nursing and care services are ▲Seoul Medical Center (404 beds) ▲Boramae Hospital (417 beds) ▲Dongbu Hospital (173 beds) ▲Northern Hospital (81 beds) ▲Seonam Hospital (102 beds) ▲Children's Hospital (112 beds) ▲Seobuk Hospital (35 beds).

In particular, Seoul Metropolitan Northern Hospital has many elderly patients and subacute (recovery phase) patients focused on rehabilitation, specializing its services in rehabilitation therapy. It is expected to have a practical burden-relieving effect on patients and their families who feel time and economic burdens due to long-term caregiving. Northern Hospital currently operates six wards, and among the four general wards excluding the hospice ward and advanced wards, three entire wards operate as integrated nursing and care service wards. Patients can receive 24-hour nursing staff care, ward nursing services, and rehabilitation therapy.

The burden of caregiving costs is also significantly reduced. For a six-person room in a general hospital, private caregiving costs average 112,197 KRW (including hospitalization fee co-payment + private caregiving fee, based on the Ministry of Health and Welfare announcement in 2023), but at Northern Hospital providing integrated nursing and care services, patients only pay a hospitalization fee co-payment of 25,250 KRW, reducing the burden by 86,947 KRW. According to a National Assembly report (National Assembly Legislative Research Office, February 2024), caregiving costs borne by the public increased from 3.6 trillion KRW in 2008 to over 8 trillion KRW in 2018 and are estimated to exceed 10 trillion KRW by 2025.

Kim Tae-hee, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Citizen Health Bureau, said, "By expanding integrated nursing and care services in municipal hospitals, we will reduce the burden on citizens caused by rapidly increasing caregiving costs and strengthen the function of public hospitals through systematic medical services."

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