XN000022-1996-05-01 — Page 31

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The most comprehensive review of our plans was undertaken in 1993 by a Working Group on Care for the Elderly. This Group reviewed existing policies on the full spectrum of services for the elderly. All 71 recommendations of the Working Group were accepted by Government and funds have been earmarked to implement them.

But our efforts to improve services for the elderly have not stopped there. As I said before, expectations and needs of the elderly are evolving and the Working Group recognised the need to carry out in-depth studies of the needs of the elderly for community support and residential care. We are about to commission an important consultancy study to assess whether the needs of the elderly are being adequately served by existing services and whether new services need to be introduced. The study will also recommend how public and private sector resources should be deployed most effectively to meet these needs. The outcome of this study will help us to fine-tune our services and set them on the right path to meet the needs of those of us who will be in our old age in the early years of the next century.

Talking about elderly at risk, as much as we would all wish to see our elderly age contentedly in their home environment, the cruel fact is that eventually health may deteriorate to the point where constant care is needed. Worse still, elderly people are all too often faced with too little or dwindling incomes to support themselves. The traditional role of children faithfully providing for their elderly parents has sadly broken down in many cases. So here we have a recipe for disaster. Elderly people with failing health, with inadequate financial resources and all too often living alone with no family support. These are some of the most vulnerable members of our community - what the Hon Leong Chi-hung called the 'elderly at risk'. It is for these that the Government has a special responsibility of providing care and support.

Meeting the Financial Needs of the Elderly

A well-established retirement protection scheme is the best way of providing financial security for one's old age. This is why we are working on introducing the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Scheme. But meanwhile, we have in place a Social Security Allowance Scheme to provide financial assistance to meet the special needs of elderly arising from old age or disability. This Scheme comprises the Old Age Allowance (OAA) and the Disability Allowance (DA), both of which are not mean- tested. About 420,000 elderly people of 65 years of age or more arc receiving the OAA, the total expenditure on which was about $2.8 billion in 1995-96.

The CSSA or the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme which provides a safety net for elderly people in proven financial need. At present, there are about 94,000 elderly recipients, representing about 60% of all our CSSA recipients. Last year we spent about $3 billion on this group of CSSA recipients. As with all other groups receiving CSSA, the payments for elderly are set at a level to meet their basic needs.