Health and Welfare Bureau

II. Welfare

In the past year, we have been working on 51 pledges, of which:

The following sets out the detailed report for each main programme area.

Caring for the Elderly

Year Pledge Present Position
Action Completed
1996 1. In 1997-98, to develop a new support network for vulnerable elderly people by taking forward a pilot scheme at a cost of $20 million. We will :   
     
  • compile database on vulnerable elderly people especially those living alone;
Computers have been provided to 13 District Social Welfare Offices and 27 multi-service centres for the elderly (M/Es) for compilation of a database on vulnerable elderly in each of the 18 Home Affairs Department (HAD) districts. The database will be updated from time to time.
     
  • provide additional staff at all multi-service centres for the elderly to help foster the support network;
27 M/Es have each been provided with an additional Social Work Assistant;
     
  • identify service providers and volunteers from local organisations to maintain regular contact with elderly people with problems; and
About 300 volunteer organisations have joined the programme and 5 000 volunteers have been recruited to maintain contacts with the elderly;
     
  • create district-based committees to help foster the support network with representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Social Welfare, Housing and Home Affairs Departments.
District committees have been formed to serve 18 HAD districts.
1995 2. To train in 1996-97 over 600 health workers for residential homes for the elderly. A total of 630 health worker training places was provided in 1996-97. All training courses have been completed in June 1997.
1995 3. To establish in 1996-97 one additional community geriatric assessment team and three psychogeriatric teams, in order to provide outreach medical services for elderly people in residential institutions. One additional community geriatric assessment team and three psychogeriatric teams have been established.
1994 4. To set up a central multi-disciplinary unit in Health and Welfare Bureau to monitor the assessment and placement of applicants on the integrated waiting list for residential care. A unit has been set up in the Health and Welfare Bureau to assume a central co-ordinating and monitoring role over the integrated waiting list system. As regards individual assessment, it was decided after reviewing the situation that the community geriatric assessment teams, instead of the Bureau, should be better placed to conduct the assessment effectively.
1993 5. To provide by 1997 an additional 461 acute beds and day places for elderly patients. Since October 1993, we have opened an additional 461 acute beds and day places for elderly patients.
Action in Progress: On Schedule
1996 6. To build six nursing homes which will provide a total of 1 400 beds. Four of the homes will be completed in 1997-98 and the remaining two will be completed in 1998-99. As at the end of September 1997, the construction works of one nursing home project was completed. Construction works of the remaining five projects are in progress.
1996 7. To establish an integrated waiting list for applicants for all residential care services for the elderly, including new nursing homes. The list will be operational in late 1997. Approval was granted by the Finance Committee and the project is now in progress.
1992 8. To establish a total of 70 social centres for the elderly by 1997. Up to September 1997, 68 centres have been established. The target will be fully met by end of 1997.
Action in Progress: Under Review
1995 9. Subject to the outcome of a feasibility study, to establish by 1997 a computer network to link up all residential institutions for the elderly run by the Social Welfare Department, the Department of Health and the Hospital Authority with the Health and Welfare Bureau to streamline access to residential services. We have completed the feasibility study in June 1996 and decided to defer the implementation of the proposed network. This will enable us to review the project and build upon the experience of operating the computerised integrated waiting list detailed in item 7.
Action in Progress: A Pledge to Catch Up
1994 10. To provide a total of 60 additional home-help teams by 1998-99.

      (This is built upon the pledges
      made:

  • in 1994, to provide an additional 12 home-help teams by 1998-99; and
  • in 1993, to upgrade the 1992 target from 44 to 48 additional teams by 1997.)
As at September 1997, a total of 52 teams have been created. We are confident that the overall target will be achieved by 1998-99.
Action in Progress: Behind Schedule
1996 11. To complete in mid-1997 a study on the needs of the elderly for residential care and community support services, and to consider improvements to our elderly services by taking into account the recommendations of the study. The study is near completion and the Government is considering the viability and practicality of the recommendations.
1993 12. To provide a total of 5?88 additional residential places in care-and-attention (C&A) homes and homes for the aged by 1997. Up to September 1997, a total of 4?45 places has been provided. This undertaking is expected to be behind schedule due to delay in the building of four C&A homes as a result of complications arising from the tendering process, negotiation of lease conditions, unanticipated site constraint, etc. Two of the four homes will be completed by end 1998 while the remaining two are expected to be completed in 1999. Nevertheless, we still expect 91% of the target of 5?88 places will be met by 1997.
1992 13. To establish a total of 14 additional multi-service centres for the elderly by 1997. Up to September 1997, nine centres have been established. This undertaking is expected to be behind schedule because of difficulties in purchasing suitable premises under the Purchase Programme or delay in construction works for the remaining five centres. We expect the centres to come on stream in 1998-99.
On-going Commitment
1994 14. To recruit more volunteers to help old people and to encourage more old people to become volunteers themselves. We have continued to implement the Older Volunteers Programme and Volunteer Workers Programme in ten selected M/Es. About 2?00戹olunteers have enrolled under the programmes.


Meeting the Needs of People with a Disability

Year Pledge Present Position
Action Completed
1996 1. To explore in 1997-98 the feasibility of setting up a special admission scheme for students with a disability by working closely with local universities and the University Grants Committee. The Joint University Programmes Admissions System (JUPAS) Office has implemented a special admission scheme for students with a disability under the JUPAS.
1996 2. To improve the mobility of people with a disability by introducing larger and better-designed vehicles by March 1997 to enhance the Rehabus service. We will also ensure that Rehabus operators improve efficiency by reviewing service schedules based on a survey of customer needs. Three larger and better designed vehicles were added in March 1997. Six new scheduled routes were introduced in 1996-97 based on a survey of customer needs.
1996 3. In 1997-98, to liaise with major supermarket companies to arrange for free grocery deliveries for people with moderate or severe mobility problems. The two largest companies have agreed to provide such services. A trial scheme was successfully launched and was well received by people with a mobility problem. The scheme will continue as a permanent service of the two largest supermarket companies.
1995 4. To expand in 1996-97 vocational assessment and training services for sheltered workers as well as for traffic accident victims and injured workers. To help about 900 people a year to find suitable employment (i.e. to provide vocational assessment for 600 people and training for 300 people a year). The expansion programme was launched in 1996-97. 494 disabled workers were assessed, and 373 disabled persons were found suitable for and provided with vocational training, overshooting our original estimate of 50% success rate for vocational assessment. Funds have been secured for the continuation of these services in future years.
1995 5. In 1995-96 to add four extra Rehabus routes and three extra vehicles for the "dial-a-ride" service. In 1996-97, to add eight extra scheduled routes and two additional vehicles for the "dial-a-ride" service. Since 1995-96, a total of 12 vehicles were added for scheduled route service and five for "dial-a-ride" service.
1993 6. To devise practical measures to reduce waiting times for admission to sheltered workshops and hostels for the mentally handicapped. New working procedures were devised and implemented satisfactorily. These procedures differentiate between urgent and less urgent applications, and expedite the matching and placement process.
1993 7. To spend $20 million from 1994 to 1996 on public education about rehabilitation. A total of $20 million was spent on public education for rehabilitation by September 1997.
Action in Progress: On Schedule
1995 8. To provide by the year 2000 an additional 480 supported employment places for people with a disability. 360 supported employment places have been provided so far.
1994 9.

To improve services for people with autism over the next four years by:

  • providing an extra 78 places in pre-school centres; and

  • recruiting an extra 82 teaching and professional staff (35 in 1995-96) to provide more training and support for about 200 autistic children in pre-school centres and about 700 autistic adults in sheltered workshops and day activity centres.

An extra 60 pre-school places have been provided and an extra 49 teaching and professional staff have been appointed so far. We have made arrangements for the provision of additional places and recruitment of additional staff after September 1997.
1994 10. To provide an additional 737 places in pre-school centres (early education and training centres (EETCs) and special child care centres (SCCCs)) for children with a disability by 1998-99. In 1995-96, apart from providing 230 places in EETCs and 100 places in SCCCs, we will also provide an additional 150 places in mainstream child care centres (CCCs). An additional 455 places in EETCs, and 102 places in SCCCs have been provided for children with a disability so far. As regards the 150 CCC places undertaken for 1995-96, we have achieved the target in full by February 1997.
Action in Progress: A Pledge to Catch Up
1992 11. To provide an additional 3?30 residential places (an increase of just over 100%) for the mentally handicapped, ex-mentally ill, aged blind and the physically disabled by 1997. An additional 2?79 residential places have been provided so far. The remaining 1?51 places will be provided in the major rehabilitation projects due for completion in end 1997.
1992 12. To meet in full the demand for day services for the mentally handicapped by providing 2?10 additional places in sheltered workshops (SWs) and 1?50 additional places in day activity centres (DACs) by 1997. In 1995-96, to provide 440 places in SWs and 230 places in DACs. We have revised the target for DACs to 1?58 places to reflect changing needs.

A net additional 1?40 SW places (including 560 supported employment places) and 758 DAC places have been provided so far.

The remaining 370 SW places and 500 DAC places will be provided in the major rehabilitation projects due for completion in end 1997.



Helping Children and Young People at Risk

Year Pledge Present Position
Action Completed
1996 1. To strengthen efforts to combat child abuse by :   
     
  • establishing additional multi-disciplinary committees on child abuse. Every district will have such a committee by late 1996;
District Committees have been set up in all 13 SWD districts by October 1996.
     
  • reducing the trauma of children serving as witnesses in child abuse cases by providing a special witness support programme by mid-1997; and
The Witness Support Programme was launched in November 1996 to provide Support Person for child witnesses in need. A Child Witness Pack in Chinese has also been prepared and published in April 1997 to help children reduce anxiety that they may experience in giving evidence in court.
     
  • using overseas experts to strengthen specialised training or social workers, clinical psychologists and police officers in handling child abuse cases.
23 specialised training programmes have been organised by September 1997 to strengthen the skills of social workers, clinical psychologists and police officers in handling child abuse cases. The programmes were conducted by five overseas experts from the UK, Australia and the USA.
1996 2. To make possible the prompt return home of children abducted overseas in violation of custody arrangements by the application to Hong Kong of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction and the introduction of legislation in 1997-98 to give it effect. The Child Abduction and Custody Bill 1997 was passed in May 1997 and the new provisions have been implemented to give effect to the Convention in September 1997.
1996 3. To consider the findings of a study which aims at developing a comprehensive screening tool to identify young people at risk at an early stage so that timely support can be provided to them. The findings of the study will be available by the end of 1996. The study suggested a one-year pilot implementation of a screening tool developed as a result of the study and a three-year research to evaluate the effect of the screening tool. Both proposals were supported by the Working Group on Services for Youth at Risk and have commenced in September 1997.
1996 4. In early 1997, to enhance our understanding of runaway youths and juvenile gangs by completing a study of the behaviour of such young people and examining what services and support can be provided. The research findings and recommendations were submitted to the Working Group on Services for Youth at Risk for consideration in March 1997. On the basis of the research recommendation, two youth mobile teams will be set up in October 1997 as a two-year pilot project to serve young night-drifters.
1996 5. To complete a review of ways to modernise facilities in children and youth centres in early 1997. Review completed. SWD is in the process of implementing the various recommendations.
1996 6. To evaluate the effectiveness of children and youth centres and integrated teams in delivering children and youth services upon completion of a consultancy study in late 1996. The evaluation has been completed with the final report submitted to SWD in May 1997. SWD has formed a Task Group comprising representatives from the NGOs to examine the implementational details.
1995 7. To provide in 1996-97 additional social workers for the Child Protective Services Unit to combat the problem of child abuse. Ten additional social worker posts were created in March 1997.
1995 8. To establish in 1996-97 a fourth regional clinical psychological unit to provide timely assessment and treatment of children in need. The fourth regional clinical psychological unit commenced operation in May 1997.
1995 9. To provide in 1996-97 extra foster care places and extra small group homes to care for about 110 children in a family-like setting to reduce the number of children kept in large-scale institutional care. 40 extra foster care places and 72 extra small group home places were provided by end 1996-97.


Supporting the Family

Year Pledge Present Position
Action Completed
1996 1. To enhance the quality of service in child care centres in late 1996 by introducing a combined curriculum guide covering education and care aspects and by strengthening the training of child care workers. The "Guide to the Pre-primary Curriculum", i.e. the combined guide, was published and distributed in September 1996 to all child care centres to facilitate curriculum planning and design.

The basic training course for child care workers was strengthened in terms of content and duration, with the introduction of a field work practice programme, an increase in the total number of training hours from 300 to 360, and an extension of the course from six months to one year.

1996 2. To introduce nursery-cum-cr鋃he services in child care centres by the end of 1996 to provide a continuum of services for children who cannot be cared for by their parents during the day. Three additional nursery-cum-cr鋃he centres have been provided by September 1997.
1996 3. To introduce controls to prevent unsuitable people from providing child-minding services and facilitate the formation of mutual help child care groups. A Bill to this effect was introduced in June 1996. The Child Care Centre (Amendment) Bill 1996 was passed in May 1997 and its provisions have been implemented accordingly.
1995 4. To recruit five more family life education workers in 1996-97 to promote family harmony and a better understanding of the pressure of modern family life. Five more family life education workers were in post in October 1996.
Action in Progress: Behind Schedule
1994 5.

To provide:

  • in 1994-95 an extra 127 family social workers and clinical psychologists;

  • in 1995-96, an extra 110; and

  • in 1996-97, an extra 70

Up to September 1997, a total of 276 family social workers and clinical psychologists have been provided. The filling of another eight clinical psychologist posts was delayed due to recruitment difficulty; the filling of these posts is subject to successful recruitment. The remaining 23 family caseworkers were not provided because the overall average caseload per worker of 1 to 70.5 cases for caseload services was achieved in 1996-97.
1992 6. To provide an additional 1?00 day cr鋃he places for children by 1997. In 1995-96 and 1996-97, to provide 300 and 400 places respectively. Following a review of the utilisation of day cr鋃he services, target provision was revised downwards from 1 200 to 606 places. By September 1997, a total of 502 places have been provided.

As regards the remaining 104 places, owing to difficulties in securing suitable premises under the Purchase Programme and the delay in the fitting-out and building works, 60 places will be provided in 1997-98 while the remaining 44 places will be slipped to 1998-99.

1992 7. To provide 200 child care centre places for occasional care in 1995-96 and 75 places in 1996-97. 270 additional occasional care places have been provided as at September 1997. The overall target of providing 275 occasional child care places is expected to be met in the second half of 1997-98, subject to building and fitting out works of the projects being completed on schedule.
1992 8. To provide an additional 5?00 day nursery places by 1997. In 1995-96 and 1996-97, to provide 1?00 and 1?00 nursery places respectively. Up to September 1997, a total of 4?00 additional day nursery places have been provided. Owing to difficulties in securing suitable premises under the Purchase Programme, the overall target is unlikely to be met in 1997.
On-going Commitment
1994 9. To ensure that the Police, the Social Welfare Department NGOs liaise closely in the handling of domestic violence cases. A television Announcement of Public Interest (API) was released in May 1997 and a set of posters disseminated to concerned departments and organisations for publicity purposes.

A central Statistical Information System commenced operation in April 1997 to collect statistics on battered spouse cases from all concerned departments and NGOs.



Providing Social Security

Year Pledge Present Position
Action Completed
1996 1. Following on from other recommendations of the CSSA Review, to take forward as soon as possible a new scheme to allow elderly people who choose to retire to Guangdong to receive their CSSA payments there. The Portable CSSA Scheme was implemented on 1 April 1997.
Action in Progress: Behind Schedule
1996 2. Following on from other recommendations of the CSSA Review, to take forward a major expansion of around 20% in the staffing of Social Security Field Units to provide more speedy and effective assistance to CSSA applicants. A total of 198 additional posts have been created. Resources for the remaining 29 posts redeployed to meet other urgent priorities will be re-instated in 1998-99.
On-going Commitment
1996 3. Further to the CSSA Review, to complete our review of the Social Security Allowances and related issues. The Review of the Social Security Allowances and related issues is underway.


Preparing for the Transition

Year Pledge Present Position
On-going Commitment
1995 1. To work with the International Social Service (ISS) to improve and expand its services for new immigrants. Resources were provided to expand the post-migration service of ISS in 1996-97. Two additional welfare workers were provided in June 1997.

With grants from the Lotteries Fund, a video on services for new immigrants was produced by ISS and widely distributed in June 1996 to government and NGOs. The research report on the needs of new immigrants from China was released in July 1997.



General

Year Pledge Present Position
Action Completed
1996 1. To establish a standing committee to ensure long-term monitoring of the supply and demand of allied health personnel. The standing committee has been established and will hold its first meeting in October 1997.
1995 2. To increase the supply of Social Work Assistants by providing an extra 600 social work diploma places in the next three years. The intake of social work diploma students increased by 600 over the academic years 1995-96 to 1997-98.
Action in Progress: Behind Schedule
1996 3. Subject to the views of the NGOs, to implement in 1997-98 the new performance monitoring system recommended by a consultancy study, i.e. :
  • the introduction of "Service Quality Standards" (SQS) as objective yardsticks for monitoring services provided by NGOs; and
  • the introduction of a "unit grant" mechanism under which similar service units of the same size and type would receive the same funding.
NGOs supported the introduction of output monitoring, the SQS and Funding and Services Agreement (FSA). The SQS and FSA for core services have been completed. NGOs however did not support the fixed funding formula as recommended by the consultants. SWD put forward to the NGOs a revised formula for consultation in September this year. A revised funding mechanism is expected to be finalised by the end of this year. Subject to the views of NGOs, the new mechanism can come into operation in early 1998-99.


Progress Report