196 | Social Welfare
news about defrauding social security payment have been installed in all social security field units to promote a law-abiding spirit. At year-end, 219 abusers were jailed, bound over, ordered to perform community service, fined, or given warnings.
Services for the Elderly
The Government encourages and assists elderly people to lead active and healthy lives. It provides various community care and support services for them to age in their homes or familiar surroundings. Elderly people who need long-term care but cannot be adequately cared for at home may apply for government-subsidised residential care services.
The SWD continued to subsidise the Opportunities for the Elderly Project run by community organisations to make life more meaningful for elderly people. During the year, 280 programmes were subsidised by government grants amounting to $2.7 million.
Over the years, more than 1 million Senior Citizen Cards had been issued to elderly people in Hong Kong with which they can obtain concessions, discounts and priority service at various companies, organisations and government departments.
Community Care and Support Services
At year-end, there were 213 elderly centres, (including DECCs, NECs and social centres), 120 teams serving elderly people (including integrated home care service teams, enhanced home and community care service teams, support teams for the elderly and a home help team), 51 day care centres or units, and one holiday centre for elderly people. Support is also provided for their carers.
Residential Care Services
At year-end, a total of 25 737 subsidised residential care places were available for elderly people, including 4 747 subsidised self-care hostel places and home-for- the-aged places, 19 126 subsidised care-and-attention places of which 6 435 were purchased places from private residential care homes for the elderly (RCHES), and 1 864 subsidised nursing places.
To meet the growing care needs of elderly people, the SWD is implementing in phases a programme of converting self-care hostel and home-for-the-aged places into care-and-attention places to provide continuum of care. At year-end, a total of 2 572 care-and-attention places with continuum of care were created through the conversion programme.
The Government is committed to enhancing the quality of RCHES. The Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance and its subsidiary regulation provide for the regulation of RCHES through a licensing system. As the licensing authority, the SWD is responsible for licensing control, capacity-building, monitoring and enforcement. To help RCHES enhance their drug management capability, the Department of Health, the HA and the SWD compiled an Operational Manual on Drug Management in RCHEs and organised talks on drug management to enhance the RCHE staff's drug management skills and knowledge.