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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 (October 24):
Question:
According to an estimate by the Department of Health, in Hong Kong, more than 60 000 elderly suffering from dementia lived in the community in 2010, and the number was on the rise. Some practitioners in the social welfare sector have told me that, among the users of services provided by residential care homes for the elderly and day care centres for the elderly, the proportion of persons with dementia is also rising. As patients with dementia need a higher level of care, service units have to increase manpower in order to cope with the demand for services. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a)of the number of elderly suffering from dementia at the end of each year in the past five years;
(b)of the respective numbers of demented persons receiving services in subvented residential care homes for the elderly and day care centres for the elderly in the past five years (set out in the table below);
Subvented residential Day care centres
care homes for for the elderly
the elderly
2007-2008
2008-2009
2009-2010
2010-2011
2011-2012
(c) of the total amount of dementia supplement (DS) provided by the authorities to subvented residential care homes for the elderly, as well as day care centres for the elderly, for taking care of demented persons, and of the total number of demented persons benefiting from DS in the past five years (set out in Annex 1); and
(d) given that some members in the sector have relayed to me that the current amount of DS is not adequate to pay for the wages of additional staff hired to take care of demented persons, whether the authorities will review the arrangement of DS; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the Hon Cheung Kwok-che's question is as follows:
(a) The Administration does not keep any statistics on the number of people suffering from dementia in Hong Kong. The numbers of demented patients followed up by the Psychiatric Department of the Hospital Authority (HA) in the past five years are as follows:
Year Number of demented patients
followed up by the
Psychiatric Department of HA
(rounded to the nearest hundred)
2007-08 9 700
2008-09 10 000
2009-10 10 000
2010-11 10 600
2011-12 11 300
(Note: Demented patients may also suffer from other diseases and are followed up by other specialty departments of HA. The above figures do not cover the number of demented patients followed up by other specialty departments.)
(b) The Social Welfare Department (SWD) does not have the actual number of demented elders receiving services in subsidised residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) (including subvented RCHEs and private RCHEs participating in the Enhanced Bought Place Scheme (EBPS)) and day care centres/units for the elderly (DEs/DCUs).
Based on the existing method of estimating the number of beneficiaries (Note 1) in calculating "Dementia Supplement" (DS), SWD estimates that the numbers of demented elders receiving services in subsidised RCHEs and DEs/DCUs are as follows:
Year Subsidised RCHEs DEs/DCUs
(Note 2) (Note 3)
2007-08 2 358 N.A.
2008-09 2 542 N.A.
2009-10 3 962 N.A.
2010-11 4 161 N.A.
2011-12 4 547 449
Note 1:Estimated number of beneficiaries includes:
(i) The number of demented elders residing in subvented RCHEs, who have been assessed and confirmed to be eligible for DS by the psychogeriatric team of HA; and
(ii)The number of demented elders in EBPS homes and DEs/DCUs as estimated by SWD with reference to (i).
Note 2:Including subvented RCHEs, as well as EBPS homes which started to receive DS since 2009-10
Note 3:In 2011-12, the coverage of DS was extended to elders receiving services at DEs/DCUs
(c) In the past five years, the total amount of DS allocated to subsidised RCHEs and DEs/DCUs and the number of estimated beneficiaries are set out in Annex 2.
(d) The Government reviews from time to time the needs of people suffering from dementia and enhances the support to them through provision of additional resources. Over the past few years, the coverage of DS has been extended from subvented RCHEs to include also private RCHEs participating in EBPS and then DEs/DCUs. The amount of DS has also been substantially increased. With an additional provision of $137 million this year, the annual total allocation for DS is about $208 million, nearly three times that of last year.
Having regard to their individual needs, service units can make use of DS flexibly to engage additional professional staff, including occupational therapists, nurses, social workers, etc, or to purchase relevant professional services. DEs/DCUs can also use DS to provide training courses and services to demented elders as well as support services to their carers where necessary.
Ends/Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:03
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