外国人材の訪問介護、解禁へ　条件付き、人手不足補う―厚労省

　厚生労働省は２２日、介護分野で働く外国人材について、条件付きで訪問介護サービスに従事することを認める案を有識者検討会に示した。所属する事業所に必要な研修の実施などを求める。外国人材が就労できる業務の範囲を広げ、担い手不足の緩和につなげる狙いだ。
　技能実習や特定技能の外国人材は介護施設で働くことが可能。しかし、自宅などに出向いて１対１で利用者を介助する訪問サービスは現在、日本語での意思疎通に不安があることなどから対象外となっている。（2024/03/22-18:16）

Japan's welfare ministry proposed to an expert panel Friday a plan to conditionally allow foreigners to engage in home care services for the elderly.
   Under the plan, aimed at expanding the scope of jobs available to such personnel and easing labor shortages in the sector, nursing offices that hire such foreign staff will be obliged to provide them with necessary training programs.
   Currently, foreign technical intern trainees and foreign workers with so-called specified skills are allowed to work at care facilities in the country. They are banned from engaging in home help services to provider one-on-one assistance to users, however, due to concerns about their communication skills in Japanese.
   The ministry will finalize the plan at a future meeting of the panel, hoping to lift the ban as early as fiscal 2024, starting in April.
   Personnel shortages among home-visit nursing care service providers are particularly serious, with the ratio of effective job openings to seekers standing at 15.53 in fiscal 2022, according to the ministry. The home care worker population is also aging.