Three-Shift Nurse-Patient Ratio Legislated; Medical Community Worries Manpower Shortage May Lead to Continued Bed Closures
Taiwan's Legislative Yuan legislated the three-shift nurse-patient ratio. The medical community is concerned that the nursing shortage will worsen, leading to continued hospital bed closures. Especially in rural hospitals, securing staff is difficult, and they are calling for flexible application of penalty standards.
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- 📰 Published: May 8, 2026 at 18:49
- 🔍 Collected: May 8, 2026 at 19:02 (12 min after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 8, 2026 at 19:14 (12 min after Collected)
Central News Agency
(Central News Agency reporter Tseng Yi-ning, Shen Pei-yao, Taipei, 8th) The Legislative Yuan today passed the third reading of amendments to parts of the Medical Care Act, legislating the nurse-patient ratio. Both the Community Hospital Association and the Regional Hospital Association are concerned that the manpower shortage will worsen, which may lead to hospitals continuing to close beds; the Society of Hospital Management hopes for flexibility in penalty standards.
The Legislative Yuan passed the third reading of amendments to parts of the Medical Care Act. Article 12 of the Medical Care Act was amended by adding a fourth paragraph, legislating the "three-shift nurse-patient ratio." In addition, violators will be penalized and ordered to improve within a time limit. If they fail to improve, continuous penalties will be imposed. If penalties are imposed three times and no improvement is made within one year, a suspension of business for one month to one year will be imposed.
Chu Yi-hung, chairman of the Taiwan Community Hospital Association, told the media, "Recruitment difficulties are the biggest pain point faced by local hospitals." Many local hospitals are located in remote areas, outlying islands, or mountainous regions, and recruiting nursing staff is extremely challenging, not as some nursing groups claim that "salary increases alone can solve the problem." He stated that the reality is "even if salaries are increased, people won't come," a dilemma identical to the shortage of doctors in remote areas, which relies on publicly funded physicians.
Regarding the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Nursing and Health Care Department data indicating that local hospitals currently have the highest compliance rate, Chu Yi-hung explained that this is due to "very low bed occupancy rates" in local hospitals. He said that if the government promotes tiered medical care in the future, hoping local hospitals delve into communities to care for residents, once bed occupancy rates increase, they will be restricted by "rigid laws" due to inability to recruit nurses, which will inevitably lead to a wave of bed closures.
Chu Yi-hung stated that remote areas often rely on a single local hospital for support. Once it is forced to close beds due to inability to meet standards, the most affected will be local residents with inconvenient access to medical care. He will actively strive with the Ministry of Health and Welfare to include more realistic and localized adjustment space when incorporating it into the "Standards for Establishment of Medical Institutions" in the future.
"The manpower shortage will only worsen," said Wu Chiang-liang, chairman of the ROC Regional Hospital Association, frankly. Currently, only about 60% to 70% of regional hospitals meet the three-shift nurse-patient ratio. Manpower shortage is a long-term problem, and the situation continues to deteriorate, especially for remote hospitals which face difficult operations and already have insufficient staff. Both operation and recruitment face huge challenges.
Even with a buffer period, Wu Chiang-liang cited data announced by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, pointing out that if calculated by the three-shift nurse-patient ratio, Taiwan currently lacks up to 20,000 nursing staff. "How long will it take to make up for this?" Coupled with the current impact of Taiwan's declining birthrate, young manpower simply cannot keep up. This is no longer a simple time issue, but an overall social structure that is difficult to support.
Wu Chiang-liang appealed that what medical institutions need most now is not money, but people. Without sufficient medical manpower, any policy plan is difficult to implement; active assistance should be provided to hospitals at all levels, especially remote area hospitals, to fill manpower gaps, otherwise operational difficulties will be unsolvable.
Hung Tzu-jen, chairman of the Taiwan Society of Hospital Management and administrative vice superintendent of Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, pointed out that the legislation of the three-shift nurse-patient ratio will indeed affect the operating costs of medical institutions, but providing a reasonable working environment and burden for nursing staff is the cornerstone of medical quality. The legislation of the three-shift nurse-patient ratio is a consensus among the medical and nursing communities.
Regarding the possible impact of the new law on hospitals, Hung Tzu-jen analyzed that after COVID-19 (2019 novel coronavirus disease), Shin Kong Hospital once closed up to 93 beds, but through several salary adjustments and other measures, all beds resumed operation in July last year; however, each hospital's situation is different. The new law has not yet come into effect, and some medical institutions have already closed beds due to inability to meet the nurse-patient ratio requirements.
Hung Tzu-jen said that the Medical Care Act has set the three-shift nurse-patient ratio standards. Next, in the "Standards for Establishment of Medical Institutions," how the calculation criteria for violations will be defined (whether by day, month, or year) will affect how medical institutions respond. "No medical institution wants to break the law and be penalized," he said, "this is a matter of reputation, but if the regulations are too inflexible, it will increase the risk of hospitals falling into illegality, which may not be fair to the institutions." (Editors: Wu Su-jou) 1150508
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(Central News Agency reporter Tseng Yi-ning, Shen Pei-yao, Taipei, 8th) The Legislative Yuan today passed the third reading of amendments to parts of the Medical Care Act, legislating the nurse-patient ratio. Both the Community Hospital Association and the Regional Hospital Association are concerned that the manpower shortage will worsen, which may lead to hospitals continuing to close beds; the Society of Hospital Management hopes for flexibility in penalty standards.
The Legislative Yuan passed the third reading of amendments to parts of the Medical Care Act. Article 12 of the Medical Care Act was amended by adding a fourth paragraph, legislating the "three-shift nurse-patient ratio." In addition, violators will be penalized and ordered to improve within a time limit. If they fail to improve, continuous penalties will be imposed. If penalties are imposed three times and no improvement is made within one year, a suspension of business for one month to one year will be imposed.
Chu Yi-hung, chairman of the Taiwan Community Hospital Association, told the media, "Recruitment difficulties are the biggest pain point faced by local hospitals." Many local hospitals are located in remote areas, outlying islands, or mountainous regions, and recruiting nursing staff is extremely challenging, not as some nursing groups claim that "salary increases alone can solve the problem." He stated that the reality is "even if salaries are increased, people won't come," a dilemma identical to the shortage of doctors in remote areas, which relies on publicly funded physicians.
Regarding the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Nursing and Health Care Department data indicating that local hospitals currently have the highest compliance rate, Chu Yi-hung explained that this is due to "very low bed occupancy rates" in local hospitals. He said that if the government promotes tiered medical care in the future, hoping local hospitals delve into communities to care for residents, once bed occupancy rates increase, they will be restricted by "rigid laws" due to inability to recruit nurses, which will inevitably lead to a wave of bed closures.
Chu Yi-hung stated that remote areas often rely on a single local hospital for support. Once it is forced to close beds due to inability to meet standards, the most affected will be local residents with inconvenient access to medical care. He will actively strive with the Ministry of Health and Welfare to include more realistic and localized adjustment space when incorporating it into the "Standards for Establishment of Medical Institutions" in the future.
"The manpower shortage will only worsen," said Wu Chiang-liang, chairman of the ROC Regional Hospital Association, frankly. Currently, only about 60% to 70% of regional hospitals meet the three-shift nurse-patient ratio. Manpower shortage is a long-term problem, and the situation continues to deteriorate, especially for remote hospitals which face difficult operations and already have insufficient staff. Both operation and recruitment face huge challenges.
Even with a buffer period, Wu Chiang-liang cited data announced by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, pointing out that if calculated by the three-shift nurse-patient ratio, Taiwan currently lacks up to 20,000 nursing staff. "How long will it take to make up for this?" Coupled with the current impact of Taiwan's declining birthrate, young manpower simply cannot keep up. This is no longer a simple time issue, but an overall social structure that is difficult to support.
Wu Chiang-liang appealed that what medical institutions need most now is not money, but people. Without sufficient medical manpower, any policy plan is difficult to implement; active assistance should be provided to hospitals at all levels, especially remote area hospitals, to fill manpower gaps, otherwise operational difficulties will be unsolvable.
Hung Tzu-jen, chairman of the Taiwan Society of Hospital Management and administrative vice superintendent of Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, pointed out that the legislation of the three-shift nurse-patient ratio will indeed affect the operating costs of medical institutions, but providing a reasonable working environment and burden for nursing staff is the cornerstone of medical quality. The legislation of the three-shift nurse-patient ratio is a consensus among the medical and nursing communities.
Regarding the possible impact of the new law on hospitals, Hung Tzu-jen analyzed that after COVID-19 (2019 novel coronavirus disease), Shin Kong Hospital once closed up to 93 beds, but through several salary adjustments and other measures, all beds resumed operation in July last year; however, each hospital's situation is different. The new law has not yet come into effect, and some medical institutions have already closed beds due to inability to meet the nurse-patient ratio requirements.
Hung Tzu-jen said that the Medical Care Act has set the three-shift nurse-patient ratio standards. Next, in the "Standards for Establishment of Medical Institutions," how the calculation criteria for violations will be defined (whether by day, month, or year) will affect how medical institutions respond. "No medical institution wants to break the law and be penalized," he said, "this is a matter of reputation, but if the regulations are too inflexible, it will increase the risk of hospitals falling into illegality, which may not be fair to the institutions." (Editors: Wu Su-jou) 1150508
Choose to stand with facts, every sponsorship of yours is the power to protect press freedom.
Download the Central News Agency's "First-hand News" APP to grasp the latest news instantly.
The text, images, and audio/video on this website may not be reproduced, publicly broadcast, or publicly transmitted and used without authorization.