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Following is a question by the Hon Cheung Kwok-che and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (March 17):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council of:
(a) the number of persons with disabilities (PWDs) currently residing in each District Council district; if such data are not available, of the reasons for that; and
(b) the criteria adopted by the Government at present for assessing the service needs of PWDs in various districts?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the Hon Cheung Kwok-che's question is as follows:
(a) According to the findings of the "Survey on Persons with Disabilities" (the Survey) conducted by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) in 2007, a breakdown of the number of persons with disabilities (PWDs) by area of residence is set out in the following table:
Area of All persons Persons with
residence (1) with disabilities intellectual
(excluding persons disability (3)
with intellectual (for crude
disability(2)) reference only)
Hong Kong Island 76,100 6,100
Kowloon East 91,700 6,300
Kowloon West 35,900 2,600
New Territories
East 64,600 6,600
New Territories
West 93,000 9,300
Remarks:
(1) Given the limited sample size of each District Council district, a breakdown of the number of PWDs by District Council districts may involve significant sampling error. In this regard, in order to provide accurate statistical data of PWDs, a breakdown of the number of PWDs by five regions, i.e. Hong Kong Island, Kowloon East, Kowloon West, New Territories West and New Territories East, has been adopted by C&SD.
(2) Since intellectual disability is a very sensitive issue to some respondents, the information collected from these respondents may be subject to larger error, and hence the survey may have underestimated the number of persons with intellectual disability. For this reason, the survey results of the number of persons with intellectual disability and the number of other PWDs were handled separately.
(3) As at September 2007, there were about 31,000 registrants with intellectual disability on the record of the Labour and Welfare Bureau's Central Registry for Rehabilitation. The distribution of these 31,000 persons with intellectual disability by area of residence was estimated on the basis of the survey results.
(b) To ensure that rehabilitation and support services can meet the needs of PWDs, various Government bureaux/departments concerned will formulate their service strategies at district/territory-wide level having regard to their service nature, service demand, cost effectiveness, service quality etc.
For example, in planning for the capacity and nature of various rehabilitation services, as well as the location for provision of service, the Social Welfare Department will conduct analysis by making reference to the number of applicants, waiting time and location preference as indicated by the applicants and recorded in the computerised waiting list system, as well as the current supply and demand of rehabilitation services in the districts.
Regarding special education, under the existing education policy, the Education Bureau (EDB) will, subject to the assessment and recommendation of specialists and parents' consent, refer students with severe or multiple disabilities to different types of special school for intensive support services. Other students with special educational needs (SEN) are placed in ordinary schools in different districts through the existing School Places Allocation Systems. EDB will provide additional resources, teacher training and professional support for schools, having regard to the number of SEN students in individual schools and the level of support they require, etc, to help them cater for the needs of their students. In short, EDB provides support to schools on the basis of the situation of students and schools, instead of assessing the service needs at district level.
Regarding medical rehabilitation service, the Hospital Authority (HA) has adopted a "Planning Framework" to ensure co-ordination and alignment of services. Forward planning at a territory-wide level is conducted on the basis of a variety of factors, including an ageing population, epidemiological change of diseases such as the prevalence of chronic illnesses, clinical and cost effectiveness evidence and manpower demand. In planning the services of HA's hospital clusters, HA adopts local services demand and development of various specialist services as the principles for consideration. Specifically, health care services having a continual need such as basic, specialist, emergency and in-patient services are provided by all clusters. Specialist services, having a relatively small demand and requiring other complex supporting facilities for delivery, are mainly provided to the public (including PWDs) on a cross-cluster basis under a service network formed by two or more clusters. Neurosurgery and oncology services are examples of such services. As for those specialist services that have a limited demand and require some state-of-the-art technologies, equipment and comprehensive supporting facilities for delivery, they are provided by tertiary services centres at designated hospitals. Organ transplant and burn centres are examples of these services. The above principle for service planning could achieve cost-effectiveness and help pool together the experience of health care professionals and ensure the quality of services.
Ends/Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Issued at HKT 14:01
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