regional centres for health education will be established in Kowloon and the New Territories.
Community Support
4.12
To provide support for old people on their own and for families with elderly members, the following community services will be expanded:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
in the current year, the number of home helpers will be increased to 55, with an additional 40 helpers annually thereafter, subject to a review in 1982/83. This service does not require a substantial financial input and if sufficient workers can be recruited, the Government will consider a faster rate of expansion;
day care centres for old people are popular in other countries as they offer a range of personal care, rehabilitative and recreational services on a non-residential basis. These centres are a better alternative to institutional care as they encourage the elderly to remain with their families. At present, there are no day care centres as such although some of the services normally available at these centres are being provided by various voluntary agencies. The voluntary sector will be assisted financially in establishing 2 day care centres on an experimental basis, catering for 80 people, to be operational in 1979/80. This will provide useful experience for the future development of such facilities;
old people already have access to a wide range of recreational facilities provided for the general community. However, improved co-ordination, organization and provision of special facilities such as transport will be needed to encourage more old people to make better use of existing community services. The Urban Council has agreed to make available, through bulk booking, tickets at concessionary prices for programmes which are of particular interest to the elderly;
some social centres cater exclusively for the elderly and are very popular. The Government plans to provide an additional 117 social centres for the elderly by 1982/83 and eventually to achieve a target of one centre for every 20,000 of the population;
apart from health education, there will be pre-retirement programmes for the elderly and other programmes aimed at promoting a better understanding amongst the entire community of the problems of old age. The latter will be part of family life education. Education of the community is important not only to prepare young people for their own aging, but to foster a caring community where young and old alike can contribute towards a better Hong Kong;
4.13
Other support services such as counselling and visiting services will continue to be available to the elderly but the emphasis will be on improving the quality of service to make better use of existing resources. Volunteers play a key role in visiting services and old people themselves can also be mobilised to provide a useful service for other age groups.
4.14
To improve services to those who require them, community services for old people should be provided and co-ordinated on a district basis. Multi-service centres will be established to provide a range of services such as home help, meals, laundry services, counselling, social and recreational activities, visiting service, community education and organizing volunteers involving both the community and old people themselves. A minimum of 17 multi-service centres will be required for this purpose of which seven are planned to be provided by 1980/81.
4.15
The Civil Service will continue to adopt a flexible retirement age so that persons aged 55 and over who can and are willing to continue to work may do so. Employment of old people in
16