Location Analytics and Modelling

Chapter 2

Abstract

1. Introduction

23

Aging Rate

Evaluation of Nursing Facility

Coefficient of the Population

Koya Tsukahara and Kayoko Yamamoto

Locations Using the Specialization

Recently, in Japan, the increase of aging population is especially rapid, the lack of nursing facilities has become a serious social issue, and the political measures against it are continuously enacted. Though the number of nursing facilities and its capacity are increasing, the utilization rate of such facilities remains at the same level, and the lack of facilities has not improved. Based on the background mentioned above, using geographic information systems (GIS) and public open data, the present study aims to quantitatively evaluate the current situation of nursing facility locations in urban areas within Japan. In the present study, the model of the p-median problem used to obtain the optimal location of facilities was modified, and a method to evaluate the current situation concerning the shortage or overage of nursing facilities by area was proposed. As evaluations are conducted using quantitative data, the evaluation results are also quantitative, making it an effective indicator for evaluating the locations of nursing facilities. Additionally, the specialization coefficient of the population aging rate and the distance between nursing facilities and areas were calculated based on public open data. Therefore, the evaluation method has a high temporal reproducibility as well as spatial reproducibility.

Keywords: nursing facility, aging population, p-median problem, facility location

While the aging population in many advanced countries around the world is increasing, the increase is especially rapid, and the lack of nursing facilities has become a serious social issue in Japan. According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) [1, 2], though the admission capacity of special nursing homes is approximately 498,000 as of 2014, the number of people requesting admission was 524,000. This grave situation highlights the severity of the lack of certified care workers as well as nursing facilities. In order to increase the number of certified care workers, the MHLW released a "Basic guideline concerning measures to increase workers in social welfare services" and is making efforts to secure personnel. Though the number of people registering as a certified care worker is

problem, geographic information systems (GIS), public open data

increasing, the lack of workers remains an issue.
