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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, to a question by the Hon Patrick Lau on assistance hotlines providing emotional counselling services in the Legislative Council today (October 30):
Question:
The family tragedy which occurred in Tin Shui Wai recently has aroused public concern about the adequacy of assistance hotlines providing emotional counselling services. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
(a) the maximum number of assistance-seeking cases that the existing 24-hour service hotlines can handle at any one time;
(b) the respective numbers of staff, at different intervals of the day, responsible for answering phone calls on each hotline, and the number of such staff who have received professional training in handling emotional problems (e.g. social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists);
(c) the respective average daily numbers of assistance-seeking phone calls received by each hotline in the past 12 months, together with a breakdown by intervals; and
(d) the current respective average daily numbers of assistance-seeking phone calls that each hotline has to transfer to the voice mailbox because all lines are engaged, together with a breakdown by intervals?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Administration currently provides over-the-phone counselling and support services to persons in need (including those with emotional problems) mainly through two telephone hotlines, including the hotline (2343 2255) operated by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) and the Family Crisis Hotline (18 288) operated by the Caritas with full subvention from SWD.
Social workers operating the SWD hotline are on duty from 9am to 10pm on Mondays to Saturdays; and from 1pm to 10pm on Sundays and public holidays. Callers ringing up the SWD hotline outside the duty hours of the social workers may either leave a message on the voice mailbox or choose to transfer their calls to the Family Crisis Hotline to speak with the duty social workers of the Caritas. The Family Crisis Hotline operates on a 24-hour basis.
In addition, other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) also operate hotline service to provide support for those with emotional problems or in need, including the 24-hour hotline of the CEASE Centre (18 281) of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals funded by the Lotteries Fund and the 24-hour "Suicide prevention hotline" (2389 2222) of the Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong.
The SWD hotline and the Family Crisis Hotline deploy their manpower flexibly to provide services to callers in light of different hours of the day and in accordance with the actual service demand. As the nature and the circumstances of each call may vary and the processing time required might differ, it is difficult to estimate the number of calls for assistance that can be handled by the above two hotlines at any one time.
(b) The SWD hotline and the Family Crisis Hotline are both manned by social workers. The SWD hotline is manned by three to six social workers during the duty hours. The Family Crisis Hotline is manned by two to five social workers from 12 midnight to 8am and by one to two social workers during other hours of the day.
(c) Between October 2006 and September 2007, the SWD hotline handled a total of 79 650 incoming calls during the duty hours (an average of about 218 calls per day), 19 591 of which required counselling service, and the remainder was for general information/enquiries. During the same period, the Family Crisis Hotline handled a total of 23 544 incoming calls (an average of about 65 calls per day).
SWD does not maintain statistics on the breakdown of the number of calls handled at different hours of the day. The breakdown of calls handled by the Family Crisis Hotline between October 2006 and September 2007 is as follows:
Hours of the Day Number of Incoming Calls Handled
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Total no. Daily Average
of calls
8am - 4pm 7 004 19
4pm - 12 midnight 8 808 24
12 midnight - 8am 7 732 21
Total 23 544 64.5
Note: The number of incoming calls handled includes calls answered and return calls to messages on the voice mailbox made afterwards.
(d) The SWD hotline and the Family Crisis Hotline both have voicemail service. If an incoming call is not put through immediately due to busy lines, the caller may leave a message on the voice mailbox, and a social worker will return call within 30 minutes during the duty hours.
Between October 2006 and September 2007, the SWD hotline received 7 200 voicemails during the duty hours (an average of 20 per day), whereas the Family Crisis Hotline received 11 972 voicemails (an average of 33 per day).
SWD does not maintain statistics on the breakdown of the number of voicemails received at different hours of the day. The relevant breakdown of voicemails received by the Family Crisis Hotline between October 2006 and September 2007 is as follows:
Hours of the Day Number of Voicemails
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Total no. Daily Average
8am - 4pm 4 860 13
4pm - 12 midnight 5 775 16
12 midnight - 8am 1 337 4
Total 11 972 33
Ends/Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:20
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