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Wednesday, July 18, 1973
Other recommendations it makes for improvement of welfare services
include a home help service for those who are unable to look after their
home properly and a meals service, either in the form of "meals on wheele"
delivered to the home or "meals in a canteen."
Day care centres designed particularly for the senile elderly conducted
on an experimental basis, the development on home visiting and escort services
and a counselling service, are also recommended.
On medical and health services, the Working Party recommends expanding
the community nursing service for elderly. This should include, if possible,
an appointment scheme, a regular check up system and special provision for
dental, optical, hearing and chiropodic care with free spectacles and hearing
aids when necessary. This, it suggests, could be done through an organisation
similar to the school medical service board.
The Working Party recommends that community facilities for the elderly
be provided as part of the general public facilities, and identified four
areas in which it felt more could be done -- an expanded programme of old
people's clubs: better reading material for those with poor eyesight and
the use of volunteers to deliver and collect newspapers and books for the
elderly: more outdoor facilities, and entertainment.
On housing, Mr. Heppell said: "The Working Party believes that more
emphasis should be put on the distinct nousing needs of the elderly, particularly
at a time when major new developments in public housing are in hand and when
the changing pattern of life in Hong Kong and the growing numbers of the
elderly mean that there will be an increased demand for housing by the elderly."
/It recommends