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Services for the elderly expand
The government, taking into account the trend of a growing ageing population, has been rapidly expanding the various services for the elderly.
This was stated by the Director of Social Welfare, Mr Ian Strachan, when he officiated at the opening ceremony of the Pok Oi Hospital Jockey Club Care and Attention Home in Yuen Long today (Tuesday).
"One of the basic principles underlying services for the elderly is 'ageing in place', i.e, care in the community.
"A range of community support services, such as home help service, day care centres, social centres, volunteer workers programme and older volunteers programme are provided to enable our senior citizens to live with dignity in their home environment as long as possible.
"For those, due to health, social or other reasons who cannot be cared for at home, a continuum of residential care services is to be provided," Mr Strachan said.
He said over 1,200 additional subvented care and attention places had been made available in the past year, adding that the government had committed to further expand the residential care service for the elderly in the years to come.
"Whilst the government is working at full speed to develop subvented residential places to the elderly, there is still a need to develop non-profit-making self- financing homes to serve the 'sandwich class'.
"The development of these self-financing homes offers an advantage of flexibility of management and provision of better quality services in meeting the increasing demand and changing needs of our seniors," he said.
The Pok Oi Hospital Jockey Club Care and Attention Home is the first subvented care and attention home with the provision of self-financing places which marks another milestone in the provision of residential services to the elderly. It provides 205 residential places for the elderly of which 44 are operated on the self- financing basis.
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