A CHINESE medical delegation, keen on improving health care for elderly people in their country, visited Colchester General Hospital on a fact-finding mission.

The group from the First People’s Hospital, based in Changzhou Jiangsu province, were given a tour of the hospital, visiting areas such as the frailty assessment base and the medical decision unit.

They learned how hospital staff work alongside social services at Essex County Council, enabling people to return to their own homes as quickly as possible.

Chief physician for cardiothoracic surgery at the First People’s Hospital, Zhang Xiaoying said: “China is now facing a severe ageing problem and that is one of the main problems for our Government and the population, so we will be making recommendations in the light of some of the things we have learned from Colchester."

Director of Clinical Integration at Colchester Hospital, Shane Gordon, said: “Our visitors took a great interest in many of the developments we have put in place over the last few years, particularly the integrated nature of our working and the efforts to get people back into their own homes.

“We had a very good conversation exploring the differences between the system in China and their challenges with elderly care, which are similar to our own in many ways. They were very impressed with the way we manage things here; it was a really good learning experience.

“We hope this relationship will continue to grow, we will be working very hard with our county council partners and explore different opportunities to work collaboratively with international partners in the future."