RDNS signs Chinese home nursing agreement
Home nursing and health care services provider Royal District Nursing Service (RDNS) is joining forces with two local health care organisations to deliver home nursing services in China.
Pictured left to right: Paul Montgomery (RDNS Ltd & RDNS Hong Kong Chairman), Hon Steven Ciobo (Minister for Trade & Investment), and Dr Fei Long (CEO of Xintu).
The agreement will see services provided to the ageing population of the city of Qingdao, located on the east coast of China.
“We are strengthening ties within China through this agreement which is aimed at providing new home care services into Qingdao, a city with a population of more than 9 million people,” explains Stephen Muggleton, chief executive officer of RDNS.
Today China has 1.38 billion people with the number of people aged over 60 set to double by 2050 to around 440 million. By 2020, China will have the world’s largest middle class market looking for value-added heath care services and innovative care delivery and service models.
RDNS will be working together with the Xintu Center for Community Health Promotion (Xintu) in Shanghai and Zi-xin Medical Group (Zi-xin) in Qingdao.
A signing ceremony in Shanghai, attended by Chinese officials and representatives from the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) as part of the 2016 Australia Week in China (AWIC) event, marked the three-way agreement.
Initially the three organisations will work together to develop a home nursing care service in Qingdao, with an ultimate aim of expanding its reach to offer services in other cities and regional communities in China.
“The agreement builds on our long-standing relationship with Xintu and our further collaboration with both Xintu and Zi-xin has potential to bring about significant development opportunities for the coming years,” Mr Muggleton says.
“RDNS can bring all aspects of home nursing and home care support, specialised education and training programs, aged care research with expertise in dementia, chronic disease and medications management as well as extensive ICT capability including patient information management systems and telehealth,” according to Mr Muggleton.
With health and aged care services ranking as one of China’s key national development strategies, Mr Muggleton notes that this latest agreement also signalled the growing relationship between Australian and Chinese health care organisations, strengthened by the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
“It is an exciting time for both the Australian and Chinese aged care industries,” Mr Muggleton adds.
“At the same time we’re transitioning to consumer directed care, China is trialling systems based on voucher entitlements and choice. The similarities are remarkable and the lessons learnt and applied across both jurisdictions are substantial.”
