Caregivers who have a criminal record involving fraud or abuse would not be permitted to receive a long-term care provider certificate, starting by the end of this year at the earliest, a proposed amendment released yesterday by the Ministry of Health and Welfare said.
The preview of the draft amendment to regulations governing long-term caregivers’ training, continuing education and certificate registration seeks to enhance the eligibility requirements for care providers.
The amendment follows reports of an incident last year in which a care provider in Tainan’s Madou District (麻豆) allegedly took an elderly person with dementia who was living alone to an illegal bank to get loans of up to NT$3 million (US$100,040). The elderly person’s daughter, who lives in Taipei, learned of the situation after the bank foreclosed on her parents’ home.
Photo: CNA
Department of Long-Term Care Deputy Director-General Wu Hsi-wen (吳希文) said the amendment would bolster oversight over caregivers.
Long-term care providers whose certificate has been revoked because they provided inadequate care or protection, harming their care receiver’s rights, such as through fraud or abuse, would no longer be allowed to renew their certificate, she said.
As of the end of last year, more than 110,000 people were working as care providers, at-home care service supervisors, care managers or case managers, and care providers accounted for about 97,000 of them, ministry data showed.
To help caregivers receive continued education and return to work, the amended regulations would adjust the certification and training mechanisms, including requiring that caregivers receive long-term care joint training within a year before applying for certification to ensure that the training is in accordance with current policies.
The contents of the long-term care joint training course before June 3, 2017, are different from the current policies, so the amendment is needed to ensure that caregivers have the practical knowledge needed under current requirements, Wu said.
As some long-term care providers might have not worked in care facilities for a long time after receiving their certification, or have stopped working for a long period, it might be difficult for them to complete all the required continuing education credits before returning to work.
Therefore, the amendment would ease the requirement, allowing them to only obtain one-sixth (or 20 credits) of the required credits in the past year to return to work, lowering the threshold for certified caregivers to return to the workforce.
The maximum credits accepted from online courses have also increased from 40 to 80, allowing care providers more flexibility in receiving continued on-the-job education.
The public comment period for the preview of drafted amendment ends on July 21, Wu said, adding that the new regulations might be promulgated and take effect by the end of the year.
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