Highlights of the Year 2019-20

To meet the demand for services, SWD provided 1 3081 additional places in 2019-20, including 311 places for pre-school services, 528 places for day services and 469 places for residential services.

On-Site Pre-School Rehabilitation Services
To better meet the service needs, the Government has further increased the number of service places under On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services (OPRS) from about 5 000 in 2018-19 to over 7 000 in 2019-20. Additional resources were also provided in 2019-20 for enhancing the OPRS teams, including increasing the number of speech therapists and social workers, and the number of welfare workers and drivers for operating mobile training centres. Starting from October 2019, there are 21 NGO operators providing rehabilitation training for children studying in about 850 kindergartens/kindergarten-cum-child care centres. The Government will further increase the number of service places by 1 000 in each school year from 2020/21 to 2022/23 to bring the total number of places to 10 000.

Special Child Care Centres and Residential Special Child Care Centres
To further strengthen support for pre-school children with special needs and their parents, the Government enhanced social work services of special child care centres and residential special child care centres in 2019-20, and strengthened care and nursing support for children with severe disabilities receiving day and residential care services.

Parents/Relatives Resource Centres
Parents/Relatives Resource Centres (PRCs) enable parents, relatives and carers in need to attain mutual support, learn more about their family members with disabilities and accept them under PRCs’ assistance so as to strengthen their care capabilities. From 2018-19 to 2019-20, SWD has increased the number of PRCs from 6 to 19. Specialised ethnic minorities units were also set up in 5 PRCs in 2019-20 to strengthen the support for persons of ethnic minorities with disabilities and their parents/relatives.

District Support Centres for Persons with Disabilities
District Support Centres for Persons with Disabilities (DSCs), adopting a district-based approach, provide one-stop community support services for persons with disabilities and their family members/carers. In 2019-20, SWD increased DSCs’ manpower of social workers and therapists for enhancing service planning and co-ordination, case management and rehabilitation training services. From 2020-21, resources have been earmarked for increasing the number of DSCs progressively from 16 at present to 21.

Integrated Community Centres for Mental Wellness
In October 2010, SWD revamped the existing community mental health support services to set up Integrated Community Centres for Mental Wellness (ICCMWs) in the territory at 24 service points. ICCMWs aim at providing one-stop, district-based and accessible community support and social rehabilitation services ranging from early prevention to risk management for ex-mentally ill persons, persons with suspected mental health problems, their families/carers and residents living in the serving district. Since October 2019, ICCMW has expanded the service targets to cover all secondary school students with mental health needs with a view to strengthening professional support for them and their family members/carers.

Mobile Van for Publicity Service on Mental Wellness
Since July 2019, SWD has set up the Mobile Van for Publicity Service on Mental Wellness (MVP Service) for stepping up community education through the deployment of MVP Service in 5 designated regions of Hong Kong, with a view to raising public awareness on their mental wellness, developing positive help-seeking attitude/behavior towards mental illness and providing early prevention, identification and intervention.

Support Centres for Persons with Autism
In 2019-20, SWD increased the number of Support Centres for Persons with Autism (SPAs) from 3 to 5, covering the 5 regions in the territory, including Kowloon East, Kowloon West, New Territories East, New Territories West and Hong Kong Island. The manpower of the existing SPAs was also increased to strengthen support for young persons with high functioning autism and their parents/carers, and provide professional support services to service units serving autism cases.

Pilot Scheme on Professional Outreaching Teams for Private Residential Care Homes for Persons with Disabilities
The Government is proactive in enhancing the service quality of long term care services. In 2018-19, a four-year pilot scheme was implemented to provide multi-disciplinary professional outreaching service for about 4 000 residents living in the private RCHDs in Hong Kong, with 4 outreaching teams to cater for their social and rehabilitation needs. The teams also provide consultation, training and support for the residents’ family members and staff of the private RCHDs in order to improve the care and support provided for the residents, and promote their participation in community networking activities with a view to achieving social inclusion.

Home Care Service for Persons with Severe Disabilities and Integrated Support Service for Persons with Severe Physical Disabilities

• Home Care Service for Persons with Severe Disabilities (HCS) and Integrated Support Service for Persons with Severe Physical Disabilities (ISS) provide persons with disabilities in need of home-based support services with a range of integrated home-based services (including personal care, nursing care, rehabilitation training, etc.) and carer support. ISS also provides special subsidies for eligible persons with severe physical disabilities in need of constant attention and care for purchasing medical equipment and medical consumables.
• With the introduction of the Pilot Scheme on Professional Outreaching Teams for Private Residential Care Homes for Persons with Disabilities and the Pilot Scheme on Multi-disciplinary Outreaching Support Teams for the Elderly in 2019, the support services for persons with disabilities living in private residential care homes, previously provided under HCS and ISS, will be gradually covered by the 2 pilot schemes. Through addition and redeployment of resources, the 2 home-based care services will serve an additional 1 800 persons with disabilities in the community from 2019-20. SWD has also added speech therapy service and enhanced the transport support for each HCS and ISS team.

“Vacancy Enquiry System for Residential Respite Service for Persons with Disabilities, Residential Respite Service for the Elderly and Emergency Placement for the Elderly”
To facilitate the public and service referral units to check online vacancy and service information on designated residential respite places for persons with disabilities, designated residential respite places for the elderly and emergency placements for the elderly, SWD launched the website of “Vacancy Enquiry System for Residential Respite Service for Persons with Disabilities, Residential Respite Service for the Elderly and Emergency Placement for the Elderly” in December 2019. It provides a dedicated search function for the public to search for vacancies that suit their needs through such filtering criteria as gender, age range, type of disability/care level of the applicant, type of residential care homes and location preference, so as to facilitate the making of requests to relevant service units.

Initiatives for Ageing Service Users
To facilitate timely and appropriate training for ageing service users living in subvented RCHDs, the Government extended the provision of speech therapy service in 2019-20 to other types of RCHDs, including care and attention homes for the aged blind, long stay care homes and supported hostels.
 

¹ Including the additional places provided under the Bought Place Scheme for Private Residential Care Homes for Persons with Disabilities