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Highlights of the Year 2021-22

Community Support Services for the Elderly

  • Dementia Community Support Scheme
    The former Food and Health Bureau (renamed the Health Bureau from 1 July 2022), in collaboration with HA and SWD, launched a two-year pilot scheme called the “Dementia Community Support Scheme” in February 2017 to provide appropriate support services for elderly persons with mild or moderate dementia and their carers in the community through a medical-social collaboration model. The Government has regularised the pilot scheme since February 2019, and has expanded it to all 41 District Elderly Community Centres (DECCs) and 7 HA clusters across the territory since May 2019. Over 2 000 elderly persons are expected to receive the services each year.
  • Dementia Friendly Community Campaign
    In September 2018, SWD launched a three-year Dementia Friendly Community Campaign to promote public awareness on dementia. A series of programmes was organised under the Campaign, including rolling out television and radio announcements of public interest, developing a thematic webpage, commissioning the Hong Kong Alzheimer’s Disease Association to organise internationally recognised Dementia Friends Information Sessions, producing a TV drama series on dementia, organising a major signature event and movie screenings, and other district campaign activities. The goal is to build a dementia friendly community for persons with dementia and their carers. In view of the positive feedback and support from different sectors of society since the implementation of the Campaign, SWD has extended the Campaign till March 2023.
  • Support for Carers Project
    To strengthen support for needy elderly persons and their carers and engage the community at large in supporting them, SWD launched a three-year “Support for Carers Project” in October 2018 and invited the participation of property management companies. The Project aims to provide basic training for frontline property management personnel, so as to equip them with knowledge of how to identify and assist needy elderly persons and their carers. They are also provided with information on welfare services in the community, so that they can make use of community resources when necessary to support ageing in place for elderly persons. As at the end of March 2022, over 11 600 property management personnel have been trained under the Project. In view of the positive feedback and support from different sectors of society since the implementation of the Project, SWD has extended the Project till March 2023.
  • Pilot Scheme on Living Allowance for Carers of Elderly Persons From Low Income Families
    The Government launched the Pilot Scheme on Living Allowance for Carers of Elderly Persons from Low-income Families in June 2014 to provide carers of elderly persons from low-income families with a living allowance to help supplement their living expenses, so that the elderly persons in need of long-term care can, with the assistance of the carers, receive proper care and continue to age in place in a familiar community. Phase IV of the Pilot Scheme was rolled out in April 2021 for a period of 30 months till the end of September 2023. The total number of beneficiaries under the four phases of the Pilot Scheme is 8 000.
  • Opportunities for the Elderly Project
    Under the Opportunities for the Elderly Project, social service organisations, district organisations and educational institutes, etc. are subsidised to organise a wide range of programmes to promote a sense of self-worthiness among the elderly in the community. In 2021-22, a total of 425 programmes were launched by various organisations, attracting over 124 000 elderly participants.
  • Pilot Scheme on Training for Foreign Domestic Helpers in Elderly Care
    SWD, in collaboration with the Department of Health (DH) and DECCs, launched the Pilot Scheme on Training for Foreign Domestic Helpers in Elderly Care in March 2018 to improve the basic knowledge and strengthen the skills of foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) in taking care of frail elderly persons, so as to enhance elderly persons’ quality of life in the community and support ageing in place. DECCs also provided care services or activities for needy elderly persons when their FDHs were in training. Phase I of the Pilot Scheme was completed in September 2021, providing a total of 1 250 training places. Phase II was launched in October 2021 for a period of 24 months. A suitable training provider was engaged to run courses for FDHs, providing a total of 1 368 training places.

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