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The Government has secured the co-operation of the Housing Authority, the Land Development Corporation, MTRC and KCRC to provide premises for more than 14,000 residential care places in the coming nine years.

For the short term, the Government expects to provide an additional 4,500 residential care places of various types between 1999/2000 and 2001/2002 to shorten the waiting time for admission into care-and-attention homes.

At the same time, the Government will allocate $10 million over the next two years to help strengthen the functioning and problem-solving abilities of families at risk and the development of parenting skills.

These were disclosed by the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Dr E K Yeoh, at the LegCo Welfare Services Panel meeting on the 1999 Policy Address today (Thursday).

Speaking of work progress, Dr Yeoh said of the 38 pledges made last year to improve elderly services, action on 11 pledges had been completed while the rest were making steady progress.

Main achievements in the past year include the commissioning of over 3,500 subsidized residential care places for the elderly; shortening the waiting time for care-and-attention places to an average of 18 months; launching of pilot schemes to provide dementia units at some care-and-attention homes and day care centres for the elderly; increasing the number of licensed private residential care homes from 41 to 242; and providing enhanced home care services to the elderly living at home.

"These services at present are fragmented. We will conduct a comprehensive review so as to identify the best way to provide care and support services to the elderly living at home," Dr Yeoh said.

To enable elderly people to lead an active and meaningful life in their golden years, Dr Yeoh said the Social Welfare Department, Education Department and voluntary organizations had been providing them a range of continuing education courses, as well as social and recreational activities.

"Through social networking, we have recruited several thousand elderly people as volunteers to visit vulnerable elderly people.

"And building on the momentum of the International Year of Older Persons, we plan to strengthen our work in this key area in the coming years," he added.

Turning to other welfare services, Dr Yeoh noted that significant achievements had also been made in the past year, i.e. the introduction of a new Service Performance Monitoring System for SWD and all subvented NGOs; the publication of the Rehabilitation Programme Plan; and completion of the Review of the Community Rehabilitation Network.

Notwithstanding the present climate, Dr Yeoh continued, the Government will inject fund to provide in the next financial year new or additional services, including 300 child-care centre places, over 600 day and residential places for the disabled, seven child protection workers and 12 school social worker units.

"In conclusion," Dr Yeoh stressed, "the Government remains firmly committed to helping those members of our community in need."

End/Thursday, October 14, 1999

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