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The Government must work to improve the living conditions of those in need, the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, said in his second Policy Address today (Wednesday).

He stressed that assistance should be given to the elderly to help them to enjoy a sense of security, a sense of belonging, good health and a feeling of personal worth.

To encourage people to care for their aged relatives, tax incentives and public housing privileges had already been provided.

Mr Tung said more support would be offered for elderly people living at home, and for their families, by:

* providing 15 more home help teams in 1999-2000; and

* launching a pilot project to introduce a respite service, which would allow families to place their elderly parents in day care centres temporarily so that the families could attend to other business.

Mr Tung said support would also be given to elderly people who could not live with their families.

"We are making good progress towards meeting our target of reducing the waiting time for elderly people applying for public rental flats to two years, and the Secretary for Housing is developing a model which will help us to assess the housing demand and preferences of our elderly population so that we may better cater to their needs in the future," Mr Tung said.

The Chief Executive had already received a report from the Elderly Commission which recommended a comprehensive strategy to improve residential care services.

"To help meet demand and reduce the waiting time for places, we plan to provide about 8,000 new subsidised places in the period between 1998 and 2002, including the 7,100 pledged last year. This will increase our total annual committed expenditure on residential care by an estimated $670 million.

"We will also pay higher prices under the Bought Place Scheme for places in homes which have more living space and higher staffing levels.

"To provide more premises of an appropriate standard for private care homes, we will draw up a programme to make available suitable sites in public and private housing developments.

"We will also monitor the demand and supply of nursing, allied health and personal care staff for residential care homes," Mr Tung said.

To allow elderly people to continue to live in the same home even when their health deteriorated, a funding mechanism to support residential care homes offering this service would be developed, he said. Selected homes would be invited in 1999 to provide the service on a trial basis.

Furthermore, he was pleased to learn that more than 5,000 elderly people were expected to take part in new voluntary programmes organised by government departments and community organisations to help others in need.

Turning to family services, Mr Tung said additional caseworkers would be employed to give counselling and practical help. More child protection workers would also be provided next year to reinforce public education on the problem of child abuse and to improve the existing child protection services.

As to the disabled, he said over 400 extra day and residential places would be provided for them in 1999-2000.

"To help us better assess the demand for rehabilitative services and support, the Secretary for Health and Welfare will complete a comprehensive review in 1999," he said.

On the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme, Mr Tung said the Secretary for Health and Welfare was finalising the review of the scheme and would put forward recommendations by the end of this year.

End/Wednesday, October 7, 1998

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