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Highlights of the Year 2021-22

Residential Care Services for the Elderly

Residential Care Services for the Elderly
SWD continued to adopt a multi-pronged approach to increase the number of residential care places for the elderly. There are around 74 900 residential care places across the territory, of which around 32 400 are subsidised by the Government, including around 2 000 occupied by Residential Care Service Voucher users. Subsidised residential care services including care-and-attention places and nursing home places are provided to meet different care needs of the elderly.

Enhanced Bought Place Scheme
SWD commenced the purchase of an additional 5 000 EA1 places under the Enhanced Bought Place Scheme over a five-year period starting from 2019-20 to increase the supply of subsidised residential care places for the elderly and enhance the overall service quality of private RCHEs. As at 31 March 2022, SWD purchased a total of around 3 800 additional EA1 places, of which around 2 300 had commenced service. SWD will invite eligible RCHEs to participate in a new round of purchase exercise in 2022- 23 to purchase the remaining around 1 200 EA1 places.

Pilot Scheme on Residential Care Service Voucher for the Elderly

  • SWD continues to implement the Pilot Scheme on Residential Care Service Voucher (RCSV) for the Elderly (Pilot Scheme) which was launched in March 2017. Adopting the “money-following-the-user” principle, the Pilot Scheme provided another alternative for elderly persons in need of residential care services. It has been extended for 3 years from March 2020 to March 2023.
  • In February 2022, the Government announced in the Budget that the Pilot Scheme will be regularised and the number of RCSVs will be increased from 3 000 to 4 000 starting from 2022-23 so as to benefit more elderly persons. As at 31 March 2022, the number of recognised service providers (i.e. RCHEs participating in the Pilot Scheme) reached 164.

Pilot Scheme on Multi-disciplinary Outreaching Support Teams for the Elderly
SWD launched a four-year Pilot Scheme on Multi-disciplinary Outreaching Support Teams for the Elderly (MOSTE) in mid-February 2019. Under MOSTE, district-based professional teams, which comprised social workers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists, were set up to provide free outreach services for residents in private RCHEs, so as to address their social and rehabilitation needs. Apart from serving residents in private RCHEs, MOSTE also provides speech therapy for residents of contract homes (including DCUs attached to contract homes) and self-financing RCHEs/nursing homes with swallowing difficulties or speech impairment. SWD will regularise MOSTE in mid-February 2023 to continue providing free multi-disciplinary outreach services to elderly persons in need.

Implementation of the Updated Standardised Care Need Assessment Mechanism for Elderly Services (SCNAMES)
SWD implemented the updated SCNAMES in July 2021, including the upgrading the assessment tool to the interRAI-Home Care version 9.3 and the service matching mechanism. Under the updated SCNAMES, comprehensive assessments are conducted taking into account the impairment in functional performance of daily activities, clinical characteristics and care needs of the elderly persons. Considerations are also given to factors like cognitive impairment, environmental risks and carers’ condition, so as to better identify the various long-term care service needs of the elderly persons, and match them with appropriate services. Since the implementation of the updated SCNAMES in July 2021, a total of 17 595 assessments were completed as at 31 March 2022.

Service Quality Group Scheme on Residential Care Homes for the Elderly (2021-23)
SWD launched a new round of two-year Service Quality Group (SQG) Scheme on Residential Care Homes for the Elderly (2021-23) (the Scheme). Private RCHEs, non-profit-making self-financing homes, contract homes and subvented RCHEs in various districts are included under the Scheme. SQG members pay regular visits to participating RCHEs to collect their views on the services, thus helping them improve their service quality. As at 31 March 2022, 311 RCHEs participated in the Scheme, and 265 members of local community served on the SQG.


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