China Daily Global Edition (USA)
City adopts a proactive approach to helping the elderly
In her maiden policy address, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor expanded the city’s voucher programs for seniors, especially those who have been discharged from hospital and use care services at home.
The vouchers, funded by the government, provide seniors with a free, convenient service delivered by local nongovernment organizations, which saves family members a great deal of time and effort.
Unlike the original funding plans for nursing homes, where the fees are paid and residents accept the services offered with little opportunity to defer, seniors entitled to nursing home service vouchers are allowed to switch nursing homes if they are dissatisfied with the service provided.
The missing or weak step in the elderly care ladder — home and community care services — has led to a vacuum. Those who are able to negotiate the complex and often confusing system have to foot the bill via their disposable income.
The government’s voucher program makes a difference, even though the amount offered is small, according to Helene Fung Hoi-lam, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who researches aging issues in the city.
Hong Kong’s limited land resources have unavoidably meant the city’s aging problems require better solutions than simply building more nursing homes and facilities for the elderly.
Multipronged solutions with an “innovative thinking and approach”, as the policy address put it, need to be in place as the population ages at an increasingly rapid rate.
The authorities are looking to technology to solve the problem.
The government will earmark HK$1 billion ($128 million) to help nursing homes purchase new technology to cope with manpower constraints.
That constitutes part of the multipronged approach and is the right direction to solve the aging issue, according to Fung.
Some nursing homes in the city have heeded the government’s call to adopt technology to overcome staff shortages.
For example, some have installed alarm systems that alert caregivers when the diaper of a bed-ridden patient is full, while others have introduced robots to help people with early-stage dementia to maintain cognitive functions, and improve efficiency. Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
As of Sept 21, 165 seniors from Hong Kong were living at Yee Hong Heights, 116 of them subsidized by the government. The remaining 49 pay the fees themselves.
A two-bed suite with comprehensive nursing care costs 7,350 yuan ($1,108) a month but the cost rises to 8,330 yuan if special nursing care is required.
“Nursing care in the mainland, especially in places such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou (capital of Guangdong), is becoming increasingly unaffordable for ordinary people,” Wong Chi-keung said.
The 73-year-old, who lives in a nursing home in Dongguan, another city in the Greater Bay Area, pays 3,000 yuan per month.
“Compared with Hong Kong, the cost of living in Dongguan is lower. But that’s only if you don’t see a doctor. If you get ill and go to the hospital, the high medical fees will immediately raise your expenses to a high level.”
Lost connections
A lack of connections with the mainland is also dissuading seniors from Hong Kong from heading north.
“Many Hong Kong residents came to the city from the mainland several decades ago, so they have close links with the mainland and are willing to return there when they retire,” said Jackie Mok, head of Yee Hong Heights.
“However, those generations are gradually passing away. The new generations of seniors who were born and grew up in Hong Kong prefer to stay in the city rather than move to an unfamiliar place when they grow old.”
Wendy Man, vice-chairman of the Clifford Group, which owns the Clifford Care Home for the elderly in Guangzhou, urged mainland nursing homes to raise their professional standards, in terms of care services, and work on positioning their operations.
The diminishing enthusiasm for cross-border elderly care among Hong Kong seniors could mean the city will face a heavier burden in dealing with its aging problem as the elderly population grows.
According to the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, people age 65 or older accounted for 16 percent of the population in 2016. The figure is projected to reach 36 percent by about 2057.
Helene Fung Hoi-lam, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who researches aging issues in the city, said her research suggests that some seniors are looking at low-cost housing in Taiwan or Southeast Asia when planning their retirement.
Noting the government’s initiatives in the recent policy address, she said authorities have worked hard to make the senior care ladder easier to climb by providing community and household care.
Hong Kong is a society with low tax rates, which makes implementation of a fully fledged universal pension system untenable, Fung said.
Despite that reality, the policy address stated: “The government’s policy direction should accord priority to the provision of home care and community care, supplemented by residential care.”
Amount the HK government is earmarking to help nursing homes alleviate staff constraints by purchasing new technology