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LCQ15: Subsidised residential care services
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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 Albert Chan in the Legislative Council today (June 3):

Question:

     Quite a number of members of the public have recently relayed to me that subsidised residential care services for the elderly, the mentally disabled and the severely disabled are seriously insufficient at present in the New Territories, rendering many of the aforesaid persons unable to receive proper care.  In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the numbers of residential places provided in the New Territories by various types of subsidised residential care homes for the elderly and residential rehabilitation homes, the number of persons waiting for such residential places and the average waiting time required at the end of each of the past three years, broken down by District Council districts; and

(b) whether it will consider increasing the number of residential places of various types of homes in the New Territories, so as to shorten the waiting time; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?


Reply:

President,

     My reply to the Hon Albert Chan's question is as follows:

(a) Distribution of subsidised residential care places for the elderly and for persons with disabilities (PWDs) by the administrative districts of the Social Welfare Department (SWD) in the past three years is listed in the Annex (Table 1 and Table 2).
 
     At present, all applications for subsidised residential care places for the elderly are managed under SWD's Central Waiting List for Subsidised Long Term Care Services on a territory-wide basis.  Since applicants can choose to wait for residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) in different locations at the same time, SWD is not able to categorise the applicants by district and has not established separate waiting lists for individual districts.  Therefore, SWD is unable to provide a breakdown of the number of persons on the waiting list and the waiting time by district.  
  
     The total number of elders waiting for admission to subsidised care-and-attention (C&A) places and nursing home (NH) places for the elderly, as well as the average waiting time in the past three years are listed in the Annex - Table 3.

     On residential care services for PWDs, SWD also operates a computerised central referral system for handling applications for subsidised residential care homes for PWDs (RCHDs).  Since the applicants can similarly indicate more than one preference in different locations at the same time, SWD is unable to provide information on the number of persons on the waiting list and the waiting time by district.

     The total number of persons waiting for subsidised residential care services for PWDs and the average waiting time in the past three years are listed in the Annex - Table 4.
 
(b) On subsidised residential care places for the elderly, SWD tendered out two contract RCHEs in the New Territories (Kwai Chung and Lei Muk Shue) at the end of 2008, which will provide a total of 142 subsidised places and are expected to commence operation in early 2010.  Furthermore, SWD has earmarked sites in three development projects in the New Territories (Tai Wai, Tsuen Wan and Yuen Long) for the construction of new contract RCHEs and will proceed with the open tender process in phases to select operators for these RCHEs upon the completion of the RCHE premises.  These three RCHEs will provide a total of 207 subsidised places.  In early May 2009, SWD also invited all private RCHEs (including RCHEs in the New Territories) to participate in the new round of the Enhanced Bought Place Scheme.  It is expected that an additional 500 subsidised residential care places for the elderly can be provided.

     Tuning to subsidised RCHDs, SWD has recently set up an integrated rehabilitation services centre (IRSC) in Shatin, providing 200 residential care places, and a C&A/SD in Tsuen Wan, providing 50 residential care places.  In addition, another IRSC will be set up in Kwai Tsing in the coming year, providing 312 residential care places.

     SWD will continue to identify suitable sites in all districts in Hong Kong (including the New Territories) for the construction of new contract RCHEs and subsidised RCHDs.  Indeed, as mentioned in the reply to part (a), applicants waiting for subsidised RCHEs or RCHDs may choose to wait for residential care homes in different locations at the same time and their choices are not limited to the districts of their domestic homes.  Therefore, in increasing the provision of residential care places, SWD will first consider the suitability of the premises for providing residential care services.  

Ends/Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Issued at HKT 14:29

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