SOCIAL WELFARE
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Medical Social Service
The Social Welfare Department continues to provide medical social service in public hospitals and clinics to help patients and their families deal with the many personal and family problems arising from illness and disability.
Care of the Elderly
The White Paper 'Social Welfare into the 1990s and Beyond' laid down care in the community and by the community as the guiding principle for the planning and development of services for the elderly. A wide range of community support services is provided to help families look after their elderly members and to enable old people to live with dignity in the community for as long as possible. Such community services include home help, day care, social and recreational facilities, canteen services, community education, as well as respite care. At the end of 1992 there were 64 home help teams, 129 social centres, 17 multi-service centres, 10 day care centres and 13 respite care places. Financial assistance, which includes public assistance and special needs allowance and housing assistance comprising compassionate rehousing and priority allocation of public housing, continues to be available for those eligible. To provide timely services to the elderly at risk, two outreaching pilot teams, which started in April 1991, continue to operate.
- Residential facilities are provided for those who for health or other reasons are unable to look after themselves and who have no relatives or friends to assist them. At the end of 1992, there were 1727 hostel places, 5 886 home places and 3 406 care-and-atten- tion places.
In addition sheltered housing is provided in private housing flats as well as in public housing estates for 1 822 elderly people who are capable of living independently.
The Registration Office of Private Homes for the Elderly provides advice and assistance to private homes for the elderly to reach an acceptable service standard. Higher service standards are encouraged through the Voluntary Registration Scheme and through an offer to buy places from registered homes under the Bought Place Scheme.
To provide a regulatory framework and a set of uniform standards for all homes for old people, legislation on residential care homes is in the final stage of drafting.
Services for Young People
Helping young people to become mature and responsible members of society is the main objective of this programme. A wide range of services is designed for young people aged from six to 24 to foster the development of their personality, character, social aptitude, sense of civic responsibility, ability to use their leisure time constructively and to enable those with adjustment problems to direct their energies towards positive goals in society.
At district level, apart from providing group work activities in community centres, the department promotes and co-ordinates youth programmes and encourages the establish- ment of self-programming and volunteer groups through its youth offices. Since 1974 the department has been running the Opportunity for Youth Scheme. Every year young people are helped with funds to implement a variety of community service projects to meet specific social needs. Awards are given for outstanding projects to recognise the contributions of participants.