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Social Welfare
About 1.7 million Senior Citizen Cards have been issued, allowing the elderly to enjoy concessions, discounts and priority service provided by companies, organisations and government departments.
Community Care and Support
Various schemes under the department lend help to some 43,100 frail elderly people. Subsidies are granted to 136 service teams, including integrated home care services teams, enhanced home and community care services teams, support teams for the elderly and a home help team; and to 73 day care centres and units for the elderly to provide support services for those living at home. A Pilot Scheme on Community Care Service Vouchers for the Elderly offers 3,000 vouchers allowing eligible elderly people to choose the services that suit their individual needs. The two-year second phase of the scheme was launched in October, serving all 18 districts.
The department also subvents 210 elderly centres, including District Elderly Community Centres and Neighbourhood Elderly Centres, and a holiday centre for the elderly. Its Improvement Programme of Elderly Centres, launched in 2012, seeks to enhance the physical settings and facilities of 237 elderly centres within six years. By the end of 2016, about $651 million had been approved under the Lotteries Fund for 175 elderly centres. Upgrading works on 99 centres had been completed and these had reopened for service with a new look.
Residential Care
At the year end, there were 27,114 subsidised residential care places, including 67 at homes for the aged; 23,222 care-and-attention places, of which 8,064 were purchased from private residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs); and 3,825 at nursing homes, of which 315 were purchased from self-financing nursing homes.
RCHES are licensed under the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance. The department monitors and helps improve their services by formulating practice guidelines and providing staff training to ensure elderly residents receive proper care.
Residential Care in Guangdong
A Pilot Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong gives eligible elderly people on Hong Kong's central waiting list for subsidised care-and-attention places the option of living in two elderly homes in Shenzhen and Zhaoqing run by Hong Kong NGOs. At the year end, 138 elderly people chose to live in these two homes.
Carers of Elderly from Low-income Families
A Pilot Scheme on Living Allowance for Carers of the Elderly Persons from Low Income Families, managed under the Community Care Fund, provides 2,000 such carers with a living allowance to supplement their expenses so elderly people in need of long-term care may, with their carers' help, receive proper care and remain living in the community. It will eventually benefit 4,000 carers. The two-year phase 2 of the scheme started in October.
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