The Ministry of Health and Welfare is finalizing details of a trial to establish urgent care centers to relieve overcrowded emergency rooms, with the program’s launch expected next month, National Health Insurance Administration Director Chen Liang-yu (陳亮妤) told reporters on the sidelines of an unrelated event in Taipei.
The pilot program — designed to provide medical attention to patients whose conditions are urgent, but not critical — would be launched next month at the soonest, she said.
The former head of the agency, Shih Chung-liang (石崇良), first promoted the concept as a potential solution to help increasingly congested emergency rooms reduce patient loads, Chen said.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
Using urgent care centers to reduce wait times at emergency rooms is a system practiced in the US, Japan and Germany with varying degrees of success, she said.
The ministry plans to establish urgent care centers within a 10km radius from hospitals with critical care capabilities to deal with patients with fever, acute digestive complaints or light injuries, Chen said.
The measure is expected to reduce Class 4 and Class 5 patients by 20 percent, which represents a significant reduction of the burden on emergency rooms, she said.
The agency is “exerting itself to the utmost” to prepare for the program in cooperation with the ministry’s Department of Information Management, the Taiwan Society of Emergency Medicine, the Taiwan Union of Nurses Association and rank-and-file healthcare workers, she added.
The pay for working at urgent care centers would be increased from the currently stipulated amount per shift in response to demands from doctors and nurses, Chen said.
Previously, Taiwan Union of Nurses Association president Chen Li-chin (陳麗琴) expressed reservations about promised subsidies for nurses.
A bonus of NT$2,000 per additional shift falls below the legally mandated overtime pay as stipulated by the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), she said.
Nurses are more likely to opt for resting up at home than working for another shift for an “unattractive” bonus, Chen Li-chin said.
The union is willing to work with the government to improve the quality of care, but officials need to make a better offer that would show sincerity about its stated concerns about healthcare workers, she said.
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