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LCQ11: Provision of care services for the elderly
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     Following is a question by the Hon Albert Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (April 15):

Question:

     In recent years, I have received quite a number of complaints from elderly people that the operators of Integrated Home Care Services (IHCS) have cut back on meal delivery services, and certain operators have even refused to provide such services to some elderly people on the grounds that they are "not old enough and still healthy". Some elderly people have also complained that the unduly long waiting time for IHCS renders them unable to solve their household problems, particularly household cleaning. Regarding the provision of IHCS for the elderly, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the respective expenditures on IHCS (Ordinary Cases) (ordinary case services) and IHCS (Frail Cases) (frail case services) in each year since the overall enhancement of IHCS in 2003;

(2) of the respective numbers of applications for ordinary case and frail case services and, among such applications, the respective numbers of approved and rejected cases in each year since the overall enhancement of IHCS in 2003; of the reasons for some of the applications being rejected; and

(3) whether it has assessed the failure of operators to provide appropriate IHCS for the elderly runs counter to the concepts of "ageing in place" and "continuum of care"; if it has assessed, of the outcome and whether the authorities will take measures to ensure that the service operators improve their services; if it has not assessed, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     My reply to the question raised by the Hon Albert Chan is as follows:

(1) The annual expenditure for Integrated Home Care Services (IHCS) (covering both ordinary cases and frail cases) from 2004-05 to 2015-16 is set out in Annex 1.

(2) The number of applicants and cases served under IHCS from 2003-04 to 2014-15 are set out in Annexes 2 and 3 respectively. The Social Welfare Department (SWD) does not keep statistics on the number of and reasons for cases not being provided with services.

(3) Frail elderly persons who have been assessed as moderately or severely impaired under the Standardised Care Need Assessment Mechanism for Elderly Services may waitlist for IHCS (Frail Cases (FC)) and/ or the Enhanced Home and Community Care Services (EHCCS). Should they have urgent need for the concerned services, SWD will give special consideration and arrange for priority placement. As for applicants for IHCS (Ordinary Cases (OC)), IHCS service teams will accord priority to those with urgent needs in accordance with their health conditions and other community support available to them.

     SWD has entered into Funding and Service Agreements (FSAs) with the subvented non-governmental organisations (NGOs) providing IHCS. SWD requires the NGOs concerned to provide IHCS in accordance with FSAs. SWD monitors the NGOs' performance in providing the subsidised services through the Service Performance Monitoring System (SPMS). Under SPMS, SWD will assess and monitor the performance of the service units through their submission of regular reports. SWD will also conduct regular or surprise visits to assess the service units' performance on a random basis. Should the service units fail to meet the requirements, SWD will request the relevant operating organisations to submit improvement action plans and monitor their implementation.

Ends/Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Issued at HKT 13:10

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