198 Social Welfare
and hostels. Speech therapy service is also available to children attending pre-school rehabilitation centres.
Other support services include home-based training and support services for persons with mental handicap or physical disabilities, community rehabilitation day services for discharged patients with mental, neurological or physical impairment, community mental health care services and after-care service for those discharged from halfway houses, and rehabilitation services for persons with visceral disability or chronic illnesses.
Residential respite service for adults with disabilities, occasional childcare service for pre-schoolers with disabilities and six parents/relatives resource centres are also available. In addition, there were five social clubs for ex-mentally ill persons and 16 social and recreational centres for persons with other disabilities to encourage them to participate in community leisure activities.
Preparation for New Legislation to Regulate Residential Care Homes for Persons with Disabilities (RCHDs)
To prepare for new legislation to regulate all RCHDS in Hong Kong, the SWD visited all 240 or more subvented, self-financing and private RCHDs, to give them professional advice on matters such as management, health care, building and fire safety. The SWD also set up a working group in July 2007 to revise the existing code of practice for RCHDs.
Financial Assistance to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) patients
The SWD administers the trust fund for SARS patients. The fund was established to provide special ex-gratia relief payments or financial assistance to SARS patients or families affected by the disease. Additional resources were injected into the fund in January 2007 to provide continuous support for SARS patients who remain dysfunctional. By year-end, 1 119 applications had been received relating to 320 deaths from SARS and 799 patients who had recovered from the disease or who were suspected of having it. Of these, 888 applications were approved, payments for which amounted to $152 million.
Medical Social Services
Medical social workers are stationed in public hospitals and some specialist clinics to help patients and their families with psychosocial problems. Such patients are given counselling, financial and other tangible assistance, as well as referrals to rehabilitation and support services to help them recover and reintegrate into society. During the year, medical social workers dealt with around 168 000 cases.
Services for Offenders
Under related ordinances, the SWD discharges statutory functions and provides community-based and residential services to help people who have committed crimes to reintegrate into the community and become law-abiding citizens.