Press Release
Speech by PSLW at 15th Annual Congress of Gerontology (English only)
Following is the speech by the Permanent Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Paul Tang Kwok-wai, at the 15th Annual Congress of Gerontology organised by the Hong Kong Association of Gerontology today (November 24):
Dr Edward Leung, Dr Raymond Ngan, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
It is my honour to be invited to speak at the Annual Congress of the Hong Kong Association of Gerontology on this challenging topic - "Promoting Well-being and Integrated Care for Older People".
Corporate leaders know very well that for a company to stay ahead, it is necessary to update their strategies now and then to meet the evolving and changing demands of customers. This business wisdom also applies to the Government in the formulation of policies and strategies. With the ever-changing elderly population profile and demand landscape, the Government has brought in new initiatives from time to time to keep up with the growing expectation for quality and diversified services for our elders while maintaining our fundamentals intact.
The fundamentals
What are our fundamentals? First, we see challenges and opportunities in an ageing population. The key is how to harness the potentials of the elderly population. In this regard, we promote active ageing to encourage elders to lead a fruitful life. We promote and facilitate "ageing in the community", and provide support to those in need, including carers of elders. We provide needy elders who cannot be adequately taken care of at their own homes with subsidised residential care places. We have been enhancing the level of care to provide continuum of care. We promote "shared responsibilities". Families play a pivotal role in taking care of their elderly members. We have been strengthening mutual support among family members and improving their ability to look after the elderly. Also, we seek to target resources at elders most in need.
An overview of existing services
Over the years, the Government has invested heavily on elderly care, and has built up a vast infrastructure of support services. They include:
- 156 elderly centres throughout the territory which provides activities for elders to meaningfully engage themselves during their leisure time. Over 170 000 elders are members of the elderly centres;
- 41 outreaching teams reaching out to over 60 000 vulnerable elders, including singleton and hidden elders;
- 51 Day Care Centres providing about 2 000 day care places for elders ageing in the community;
- over 80 service teams providing home-based services to elders in the community, including meal delivery, escort, home-making and physiotherapy exercises. Over 20 000 elders are using the services; and
- about 26 000 subsidised residential care places for frail elders in need.
All these support services however do not come cheap. We estimate that, in 2007-08, Government's recurrent expenditure on elderly services, excluding public housing and public health services, will amount to HK$3.25 billion.
New Initiatives
We are mindful of the need to keep abreast of the changing needs of elders and carers. Building on the solid foundation of support and with additional resources available, we are introducing new initiatives which will further strengthen the support for elders and their carers. With this in mind we will launch a number of important initiatives between now and March 2009:
- first, we have earmarked an one-off funding of $200 million to improve the homes of those elders living in poor conditions in the next five years. My colleagues and the Social Welfare Department are working hard on the implementation details of the scheme;
- second, we will shortly inject an additional recurrent amount of $38 million to the elderly centres to outreach more singleton and hidden elders. Also, we plan to further enhance the resources of some of the elderly centres, namely the District Elderly Community Centres, to strengthen their counselling, referral and support services for vulnerable elders;
- we have also launched a trial scheme in three districts to provide carer training for individuals and recruit them to become "carers" to provide "carer" services for elders in need. At least 660 individuals will be trained in the first year; and
- lastly, with an additional $96 million to be spent over the next four years, we will launch a pilot scheme to provide integrated support comprising discharge planning, transitional rehabilitation and home-based support, and carer training and support for elderly hospital dischargees to enhance their quality of life and reduce the unplanned hospital re-admission rate. The first pilot project will be launched in Kwun Tong in early 2008. We estimate that 3 000 high-risk elders will be served under the Kwun Tong project and training for 1 000 carers will be provided in a year.
At the same time, over years we have continued to increase the supply of subsidised day care places and residential care places. To bring forward the principle of "continuum of care", we will continue to convert those subsidised residential care places which are not providing continuum of care into places providing continuum of care. We will also start providing infirmary care in some of the subvented residential care homes for the elderly.
Last Sunday, we celebrated the Seniors' Day with about 1 000 elders and their carers at the "Salute to the Carers Ceremony" at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where the Secretary for Labour and Welfare and the Chairman of the Elderly Commission jointly paid tribute to the millions and millions of carers of elders for their selfless contributions to their families and the elderly. The event has helped enhance the community's awareness on caring for the elderly and promote a caring society.
Long-term planning for elderly services
At present, one out of every eight people in Hong Kong is aged 65 or above. This ratio is going to increase to one out of every four people by 2033. Faced with an ageing population, we are mindful that any support system for the elderly in Hong Kong has to be financially sustainable in the long run. Increasing continuously the supply of subsidised community care and residential care services alone will not be sufficient to meet the wide range of ever growing needs. We will continue to promote shared responsibility of individuals, their families and the society in meeting the needs of elders, and encourage a balanced mix of public and private elderly care services to widen the choices for quality self-financing and private residential care places providing differential services. In consultation with the Elderly Commission, we will consider the long term planning of elderly services, with a view to responding to the challenges of an ageing population effectively. Also, we will continue to listen to the community's views.
Concluding remarks
Today's Congress provides a golden opportunity for the experts and professionals in the field of elderly care to exchange views, and share and learn from one another's experiences. I am thankful to the Hong Kong Association of Gerontology for organising this meaningful discussion.
May I wish the Congress every success, and all of you a fruitful discussion. Thank you.
- Index -