=
16 -
(b)
Statistics on elderly persons living alone by district are not available from the Census information. These population figures will be updated in the By-Census to be conducted in March this year.
Welfare services for the elderly may be broadly categorised into community support services and residential care services.
As a form of community support service for the elderly, one social centre and one club for the elderly are run on Lantau Island to serve elderly people in the same neighbourhood. There is also one social centre for the elderly on Cheung Chau. Voluntary groups organise social and recreational activities for elderly people on Peng Chau and Lamma Island where there are currently no social centre services. A home help service is provided by 15 home helpers based on Lantau Island who serve the whole of the Islands District. The number serving each island varies according to demand.
Residential care services for the elderly are not provided on a district basis. As far as the Islands District is concerned, there are at present two subvented homes for the elderly in the district. One home on Cheung Chau provides 55 care-and-attention places and 75 home for the aged places. The other, on Lantau Island, provides 40 home for the aged places. Four private homes for the elderly on Cheung Chau provide 114 care-and-attention places and 29 aged home places.
Other social service units serving the whole of Islands District include: one social security field unit, three family services centres and one medical social services unit.
Primary health care services for the elderly are provided by the Mui Wo Department of Health through General Out-patient Clinics Clinic and Tai O Jockey Club Clinic on Lantau Island: Peng Chau Clinic on Peng Chau Island; North Lamma Clinic and Sok Kwu Wan Clinic on Lamma Island; and a clinic in St. John's Hospital on Cheung Chau. Remote parts of Lantau Island are served by Travelling Dispensaries and a Floating Clinic.
Seven Elderly Health Centres will be set up by 1997. This new pilot service is being reviewed and, subject to the demand for it, it is anticipated that future disease prevention and health promotion programmes for the elderly will be integrated into the General Out- patient Service which is already available in Islands District.