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Following is a question by the Hon Wong Sing-chi and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (April 13):
Question:
Regarding the number and prices of places purchased from private residential care homes for the elderly ("RCHEs") by the Social Welfare Department ("SWD") under the Enhanced Bought Place Scheme ("EBPS"), will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
(a) of the total number of EA1 and EA2 places in RCHEs under EBPS at present, together with a breakdown by district;
(b) of the respective purchase price for each EA1 place and EA2 place under EBPS over the past 10 years, and the criteria used for adjusting such prices; and
(c) as some of the operators of the aforesaid RCHEs have pointed out that their operating environment is difficult because they are facing the problems of rising food prices, rent and wages, and although the Government will raise the purchase prices by 2% in 2011-2012 (excluding an additional increase which will be effected for the provision of physiotherapy treatment and rehabilitation training for the elderly), the prices for each EA1 place and EA2 place will only be increased by $106 to $138 per month respectively, which are far from being adequate to improve the operating environment of those RCHEs, whether the Government will further increase the purchase prices within this year; if it will, of the increase in the purchase price for each place; if not, how SWD will arrange placement for those elderly persons who are affected by the withdrawal of RCHEs from participating in EBPS?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the question raised by the Hon Wong Sing-chi is as follows:
(a) As of February 2011, there were 140 private residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) in Hong Kong participating in the Enhanced Bought Place Scheme (EBPS), providing a total of 7 181 subsidised care-and-attention places for the elderly. The number of places provided in individual districts is at Annex 1.
(b) Under EBPS, the Government sets the prices for the various types of places. The price is made up of two components: government subsidy and the fee payable by the resident. At present, the monthly fees payable to the RCHEs by residents of EA1 and EA2 places are $1,707 and $1,603 respectively. The amount of government subsidies (per place per month) for EBPS places over the past 10 years is at Annex 2.
In determining the purchase prices, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) has fully taken into account the operating expenditure of the RCHEs (including items such as emoluments and rentals), and will review and adjust the amount of government subsidies annually according to the established mechanism. Price change is one of the considerations.
(c) As far as the purchase prices of 2011-12 are concerned, apart from adjusting the amount of subsidies according to the established mechanism (as detailed in Annex 2), the Government will increase recurrent funding by $40 million to raise the amount of government subsidies for EA1 prices by $911 per place per month, which amounts to an increase of about 13% to 14%. The Government hopes that the additional funding would enable the private RCHEs concerned to arrange physiotherapy treatment and rehabilitation training for frail elders as subvented RCHEs do; and encourage more higher quality private RCHEs to join EBPS. This will help enhance the overall quality of private RCHEs in the long run.
SWD will continue to adjust the purchase prices according to the established mechanism. It has signed purchase agreements for the 2011-12 financial year with all the RCHEs participating in EBPS.
Ends/Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Issued at HKT 12:31
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