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Following is a question by the Hon James To and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (April 22):
Question:
It has been reported that the Singaporean Government has pre-equipped newly constructed Housing and Development Board flats with a smart network system, comprising a Smart Elderly Alert System which uses sensors to record the daily movement patterns of elderly singletons at home and, on detecting any irregular conditions (such as falling unconscious) of the elderly persons, informs (through cloud communication technology) their children or elderly institutions to take rescue actions for them. Besides, the British Government launched in 2012 a scheme called 3 Million Lives on elderly care by deploying smart technology systems. It has also been reported that smart technology can significantly reduce the manpower required for elderly care and can effectively monitor elderly safety. Regarding the utilisation of smart technology systems for elderly care in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has estimated the respective numbers of elderly singletons living in public housing and private accommodation; of the annual number of cases in which elderly singletons encountered accidents or died suddenly at home in each of the past five years, with a breakdown by 18 District Council districts and type of housing (i.e. public housing and private accommodation);
(2) given the rapid ageing of the Hong Kong population, whether the Hong Kong Housing Authority and the Hong Kong Housing Society will introduce relevant smart technology systems to newly constructed public housing units for use by elderly singleton tenants; if so, of the plans and timetables; if not, the reasons for that;
(3) whether it will encourage private residential property developers to introduce relevant smart technology systems to newly constructed buildings; if so, of the details; and
(4) given that as early as 2007, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University successfully developed the TeleCare System with functions identical to those of the aforesaid smart technology systems, but that system has not gained popularity, whether the Government will, by making reference to the practices of the Singaporean Government and the British Government, (i) purchase with public money, (ii) use in public housing or (iii) encourage public-sector organisations and statutory bodies invest in and promote, such smart technology systems which cannot be commercialised despite their benefit to people's well-being?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the question raised by the Hon James To is as follows:
(1) According to the 2014 data collected by the Census and Statistics Department under the General Household Survey, for 1-person domestic households aged 65 or above, 79 300 were living in public rental housing, 15 700 in subsidised home ownership housing and 66 800 in private permanent housing. The Government does not have the data on the number of cases where elderly singletons encountered accidents or died suddenly at home in each of the past five years.
(2) The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) provides Grant for Emergency Alarm System (EAS) (i.e. Personal Emergency Link Service) for eligible elderly households to pay for the installation cost of EAS up to a maximum of $2,500 on a reimbursement basis.
If a public rental housing household has a family member with disabilities or chronic diseases who is in need of special care (whether the person is an elderly person or not), such tenant may opt for the special notification services provided by HA. This tenant will need to provide emergency telephone contacts and other relevant information to staff members of the estate office, and authorise them to notify the contact person(s) and transfer relevant information to other departments such as the Police Force, Fire Services Department, etc., in case of emergency (e.g. fire).
Separately, the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) has, at its own expense, been providing an emergency call device to its one-person or two-person elderly households and will continue to provide the same to elderly tenants living in its new rental estates.
(3) & (4) The Government has all along been encouraging the incorporation and application of suitable smart information technology (IT) systems into different residential developments.
The Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) administered by the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) has been providing funding to support public and private sectors to engage in research and development (R&D) and application of technologies. In particular, a Public Sector Trial Scheme (PSTS) has been established under ITF since 2011 to provide additional funding up to the full cost of the original ITF-funded and completed R&D projects which have completed R&D for the production of tools/ prototypes/ samples and the conduct of trials in the public sector.
Several projects funded by ITF are specifically designed to enable welfare organisations to try IT applications in delivering services to elderly persons, such as intelligent blind guiding stick, wearable electronics using radio frequency identification (RFID) to monitor the elderly who are susceptible to losing their ways, drug labelling readers and community elderly information system.
An R&D Centre established by the Government has, in collaboration with HKHS and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, set up a mock-up flat (i.e. iHome) to demonstrate different technologies that facilitate ageing in place and how technology can enhance the quality of life of the elderly. There are also two R&D Centres which have developed a series of technologies applicable to the elderly community, including estate-wide mesh WiFi network for free video conference among the elderly and public announcement, RFID-tagged key chain holders for recording the use of community facilities, RFID readers to assist elderly by reading out notices or activity posters in the community, as well as interactive touch frame for mental training and e-health hub, etc. Such applications are now being tested at the elderly flats of the Clague Garden Estate in Tsuen Wan.
ITC will continue to encourage the trials of different technologies through PSTS.
Ends/Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Issued at HKT 12:10
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