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Following is a question by Hon Emily Lau and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (December 2):
Question:
It has been reported that two incidents occurred early this year in a day activity centre providing training in daily living skills and simple work skills to persons with intellectual disabilities (PWIDs), in which three centre staff members had treated two female trainees with intellectual disabilities rudely. After investigation, the Police arrested the three staff members for allegedly having committed the offence of wounding others. In connection with the monitoring of residential care and day services for PWIDs (collectively referred to as PWID services), will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
(1) whether they know if non-governmental organisations (NGOs) arrange basic training for newly-recruited and existing staff members providing PWID services to enable them to understand the needs of PWIDs and acquire the skills for getting along and communicating with such persons; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(2) whether, in the past three years, the authorities reviewed the demand for PWID services and, in the light of the outcome of the review, allocated additional resources and manpower for service improvement;
(3) of the standards based on which the authorities monitor the quality of PWID services operated by NGOs; and
(4) whether they have, in the light of the aforesaid incidents, requested NGOs to further remind their frontline staff who provide PWID services that they must strictly adhere to professional ethics; how the authorities avoid the recurrence of incidents of the same type?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the questions raised by Hon Emily Lau is as follows:
(1) Under the Service Performance Monitoring System (SPMS) of the Social Welfare Department (SWD), non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating subvented services shall put in place an induction policy and procedures for new staff, a training policy, a plan for staff training and development, provide on-going supervision and conduct regular performance reviews or appraisal for identifying areas requiring improvement and needs for on-going training and development in accordance with the Service Quality Standard (SQS) under the SPMS. Apart from flexible deployment of the allocated subvention under the Lump Sum Grant Subvention System, NGOs may seek funding from the $1 billion Social Welfare Development Fund to provide training for staff. In addition, SWD organises training courses at regular intervals for the staff of NGOs or service units to understand the needs of persons with disabilities. In 2014-15, SWD organised a total of 19 relevant courses with about 2 200 participants.
(2) SWD listens to the views of stakeholders from time to time to review service needs. Various initiatives have been implemented in recent years including provision of occupational therapy or physiotherapy, healthcare as well as visiting medical practitioner services, etc. for the service users who are ageing or in deteriorating health conditions in relevant rehabilitation units, and incorporation of social and developmental elements into the original rehabilitation programmes.
In the three financial years from 2013-14 to 2015-16, SWD allocated an additional provision of nearly $109 million to increase the manpower for residential, nursing and care as well as allied health services for persons with disabilities in day training service units, and increase the provision for Visiting Medical Practitioner Scheme to further strengthen the care and support for service users.
(3) SWD monitors the services provided by subvented NGOs through the SPMS. Under the SPMS, NGOs should properly manage their service units to ensure that their subvented services are in conformity with the requirements of the Funding and Service Agreement (FSA) jointly drawn up with SWD. These requirements include the Essential Service Requirements, Output/Outcome Standards and the SQSs. The service units of subvented NGOs should comply with the relevant SQSs, including taking all reasonable steps to ensure that a safe environment is provided for service users and that these service users are free from any form of abuse. Regarding the monitoring of service performance, apart from requiring NGOs to submit statistical and self-assessment reports, SWD will conduct review visits or surprise visits to assess and monitor their service performance. SWD will require those NGOs that fail to meet the FSA requirements to submit an improvement action plan, and monitor their progress to ensure that they have reached the required service level.
Besides, the Residential Care Homes (Persons with Disabilities) Ordinance (the RCHD Ordinance) came into full operation on June 10, 2013. The RCHD Ordinance regulates the service level and operation of residential care homes for persons with disabilities (RCHDs). The Residential Care Homes (Persons with Disabilities) Regulation under the RCHD Ordinance stipulates the statutory requirements for the operation, management and supervision of the RCHDs. By virtue of the powers conferred by the RCHD Ordinance, the Director of Social Welfare issued the Code of Practice for Residential Care Homes (Persons with Disabilities), setting out the principles, procedures, guidelines and standards for the operation, management and other control of the RCHDs. The Licensing Office of Residential Care Homes for Persons with Disabilities (LORCHD) of SWD will conduct regular surprise inspections of all RCHDs to monitor their performance and operation.
(4) LORCHD of SWD issued a letter to the NGO in question, requiring it to make improvement and remind its staff to strictly observe the FSA and the Code of Practice for Residential Care Homes (Persons with Disabilities) in taking care of persons with disabilities, with particular attention to the emotional and physical conditions of such persons. LORCHD will continue to conduct regular surprise inspections of all RCHDs to monitor their operation in accordance with the statutory requirements. During inspection, frontline staff will be reminded of the importance of upholding professional ethics for protecting the well-being of service users.
Ends/Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Issued at HKT 11:29
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