The consultancy study on “Skill and Qualification Requirements of Residential Care Home Staff providing Health and Rehabilitation Services in Hong Kong”
Background
Noting that residential care homes (RCHs) for the Elderly (RCHEs) and the RCHs for Persons with Disabilities (RCHDs) often encounter difficulties in recruiting or retaining various staff who provide healthcare and rehabilitation services, the “2022 Policy Address” announced that a holistic review on the skills and qualifications requirements of RCH staff would be conducted so as to establish professional standards and a career progression path for them. In response, the government established a “Steering Committee on Review of Manpower for Healthcare Services in RCHs” in July 2023, chaired by Dr. Lam Ching-choi, and the membership comprises stakeholders including RCH operators or organisations, allied health professionals and labour union, and representatives of relevant policy bureaux/department, to provide advice and guidance on consulting research. The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has commissioned the consultant to conduct the review and report to the Steering Committee on a regular basis. The review covers the following aspects –
- reviewing the skill and qualification requirements for various staff providing healthcare and rehabilitation services at RCHs so as to establish professional standards and a progression path for them;
- exploring the feasibility and implementation proposal of establishing a new rank in RCHs, including its required qualifications, training, registration requirements, regulatory framework and the division of labour plus collaboration among various types of staff providing healthcare and rehabilitation services; and
- factors conducive to the recruitment and retention of staff of RCHs.
Recommendations of the consultant
The review had been completed in December 2024. Four recommendations have been proposed by the consultant based on the collected data and analysis results, including:
- Recommendation for the creation of the “Health&Care Practitioner” rank
It is recommended to establish a new professional rank of “Health&Care Practitioner” (HCP) responsible for the health and care procedures at the RCHs for the Elderly (RCHEs), the RCHs for Persons with Disabilities (RCHDs) and other elderly/rehabilitation welfare service units. The HCP, which covers care and health duties with due emphasis on practice, can both attract people who aspire to pursue a career in the social welfare sector and offer promotion and career prospects for Health Workers (HWs), which is conducive to talent retention. Besides, this new rank would provide RCHs with greater flexibility in utilising their manpower resources, reduce competition for talents with the medical health sector and alleviate the tight manpower situation in RCHs.
Based on the existing regulatory mechanism for HWs, the SWD is recommended to be in charge of such matters as the registration, assessment and complaint of the HCPs to ensure their professional competency and ensure that they would be put under effective regulation. The validity period of a registration or renewal of registration as an HCP would be not more than five years.
At the initial stage of the establishment of the HCPs, it is recommended to invite serving registered HWs who have served in the position for not less than three years to undergo the training. To become an HCP, one must complete a recognised training course and attain a professional diploma. The diploma concerned is pitched at Qualifications Framework Level 4 with a total of 760 learning hours. Its entry qualification requirements would be identical to those of the Enrolled Nurse (General) Training Programme, and in respect of the required health and care work in the social welfare service units, the assessment standards of the HCP training course would also be the same as those of Enrolled Nurses.
- Recommendation for adjustment to training content of “Certificate in Progression Training for Care Workers”
Adjustments are recommended to the training content of the “Certificate in Progression Training for Care Workers” (Certificate Training). At present, Care Workers (CWs) who have completed the local Form 3 programme and worked as a CW in RCHEs or RCHDs for not less than three years are eligible to enrol in the Certificate Training, and only those who have successfully passed the assessment are eligible to enrol in the HW Training Programme. Since the work of HWs is mostly practical, it is proposed to reduce the number of learning hours in language subjects of the Certificate Training with a corresponding increase in those training hours on vocational-related knowledge, such that CWs who aspire to take up health care work in RCHs would be equipped with more practical operational experience and competencies.
- Recommendation for adjustment to statutory staffing requirements
Amendments to the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Regulation (Cap. 459A) and the Residential Care Homes (Persons with Disabilities) Regulation (Cap. 613A) are recommended to introduce the new HCP rank into the relevant Regulations without altering the existing statutory staffing requirements. This would allow RCHs to employ Enrolled Nurses or HCPs to meet the relevant statutory staffing requirements.
- Recommendation for measures to recruit and retain staffs
RCH operators are recommended to attract and retain staff through measures such as enhancing career development and promotion opportunities, applying information technology and gerontechnology as well as encouraging staff to undergo training, etc.