Promoting a Sense of Worthiness among the Elderly

106.         The Government will provide a convenient living environment for the elderly, and encourage them to take part in community activities and lead a fulfilled life. We have allocated about $900 million under the Lotteries Fund to enhance the facilities and safety of all subvented elderly centres in phases over six years. We expect the first renovated elderly centre to open next month. We will also continue to promote a sense of worthiness among the elderly, promote harmony across generations and encourage lifelong learning through, among others, the Opportunities for the Elderly Project and the Elderly Academy Scheme.

Diversified Choices

107.         We will offer elderly people more diversified choices through a wide range of new and flexible modes of subvention and service delivery. The Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme is a case in point. Our next step is to review the Pilot Scheme on Community Care Service Voucher for the Elderly and explore the feasibility of adopting this voucher subsidy mode for residential care services. We will conduct a review some time after the implementation of OALA and the Guangdong Scheme. The latter Scheme is so designed that Hong Kong elderly people living in Guangdong will be eligible for the OAA. Based on the findings of the review, we will explore the feasibility of allowing elderly people who choose to retire to the Mainland to receive OALA in Guangdong.

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