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The Social Welfare Department (SWD) will make public the names of residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) which are convicted under the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance and/or Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Regulation on or after December 15, 2005, a spokesman for the SWD said today (November 25).
In response to recent discussions and concerns by the public and the media regarding the service quality of RCHEs, the department has stepped-up inspection, prosecution and has launched a series of measures to enhance the service quality and strengthen the monitoring system. After seeking advice from the Department of Justice and co-ordinating views from relevant parties, the department had also decided to make public the names of convicted RCHEs, the spokesman said.
From December 15, 2005 onwards, RCHEs convicted under the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance and/or Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Regulation, their names, addresses, the offences and date of conviction will be uploaded onto the SWD homepage (www.swd.gov.hk) for public viewing.
The SWD will not make public any information about those 38 RCHEs previously convicted as the offences were committed before the introduction of the new administrative arrangement. Since all violations against licensing requirements of those 38 RCHEs have been rectified while some have already been closed for business, the department considers it inappropriate to announce the past conviction records.
The department has written to operators/persons-in-charge of all 700 or so elderly homes informing them of the new arrangement.
The spokesman said the Government is very concerned about the quality of life of elderly people living in RCHEs and is committed to enhancing the quality of RCHEs and ensuring that their services meet the licensing requirements. The SWD will continue to achieve this objective through a three-pronged approach, namely licensing control, capacity building, and service monitoring and enforcement.
Ends/Saturday, November 26, 2005
Issued at HKT 15:01
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