ENG-2008 — Page 249

Social Welfare | 193

Prevention of Fraud and Abuse

To preserve the integrity of the social security system and ensure the proper use of public funds, the Special Investigation Section continues to prevent and combat fraud and abuse of social security assistance. A special hotline is in place to facilitate the public to make reports. In addition, to promote community education and the law-abiding spirit, anti-fraud information panels displaying fraud-related prosecution figures and court news have been installed in the frontline offices. At year-end, 161 abusers had been jailed, bound over, ordered to perform community service, fined, or given warnings.

Services for the Elderly

The Government encourages and assists the elderly to lead active and healthy lives. It provides various community care and support services for them to continue living in their homes or familiar surroundings. For elderly persons who have long- term care needs but cannot be adequately taken care of at home, the Government provides subsidised residential care services.

The SWD continues to subsidise the Opportunities for the Elderly Project run by community organisations to make life more meaningful for elderly people. During the year, 274 programmes were subsidised by government grants amounting to $3 million.

Over the years, more than 1.1 million Senior Citizen Cards had been issued to elderly persons in Hong Kong with which they can obtain concessions, discounts and priority service at various companies, organisations and government departments.

Community Care and Support Services

At year-end, there were 213 elderly centres (including DECCs, NECs and social centres for the elderly), 126 service teams (including integrated home care service teams, enhanced home and community care service teams, support teams for the elderly and a home help team), 54 day care centres or units and a holiday centre for elderly persons. Support is also provided for their carers.

Residential Care Services

At year-end, 25 494 subsidised residential care places were available for needy elderly people, including 3 613 self-care hostel places and home-for-the-aged places, 19 870 care-and-attention (C&A) places of which 6 629 were purchased from private residential care homes for the elderly (RCHES), and 2011 nursing home places. The overall supply of subsidised residential care places has increased by 60 per cent in about ten years.

To meet the growing care needs of the elderly, the SWD launched a phased conversion programme in 2005 to convert subsidised places without long-term-care element into C&A places, providing a continuum of care. At year-end, a total of 3 549 C&A places with continuum of care were created through the conversion programme.