Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ11:Handling of financial matters by staff of care homes on behalf of the residents

Following is a question by the Hon Michael Mak kwok-fung and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, in the Legislative Council today (March 12):

Question :

Regarding the handling of financial matters by the staff of care and attention homes, long stay care homes for mental patients and hostels for mentally handicapped persons on behalf of their residents, will the Government inform this Council :

(a) whether it knows the current number of residents in each of the above institutions which are managed by the Hospital Authority or subsidised by the Social Welfare Department and, among them, the numbers of those whose financial matters are handled by the staff of the institutions;

(b) whether it knows the ranks and number of the staff who are authorised to handle financial matters on behalf of the residents, the type of financial matters being handled, and the average number of residents whose financial matters are handled as well as the average amount of money being dealt with each year by each of the staff;

(c) of the total amount of reported cases or complaints received in the past five years regarding suspected stealing of money from the residents by the staff of these institutions, the number of prosecutions instituted against the staff concerned and the penalties imposed by the court on those convicted; and

(d) whether and how the institutions concerned imposed their own punishments on the staff who have been convicted by the court?


Reply :

At present, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) provides residential services for people with disabilities and the elderly primarily through financial subventions to non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Amongst these residential services, Long Stay Care Homes are for mentally ill patients with long-term residual disabilities whilst Hostels for Mentally Handicapped Persons are for people with varying degrees of mental handicap. Residential services for elders suffering from poor health or physical/mental weaknesses are provided in Care and Attention Homes (including those for the Aged Blind) and Nursing Homes. The number of these residential service units currently exceeds 300.

(a) At present, there are 980 places in Long Stay Care Homes, 725 in Care and Attention Homes for the Aged Blind and 5 223 in Hostels for Mentally Handicapped Persons. In addition, there are 17 177 subsidised places in Care and Attention Homes and 1 484 subsidised places in Nursing Homes for the elderly. We do not maintain data on the number of these residents who require assistance from staff on personal financial matters.

(b) All subvented residential service units are required by the SWD to implement a set of Service Quality Standards to ensure service quality in meeting the needs of residents. As a result, service units are required to establish policies and procedures to ensure the protection of residents' private property. In respect of residential care homes for the elderly, they are also closely monitored under the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance and its subsidiary Regulation which require homes to maintain records of all property held on behalf of their residents.

(c) We do not keep centralised statistics on the number of cases or complaints regarding suspected stealing of money from residents by staff in these residential service units.

(d) Persons involved in criminal offences are dealt with according to the law. Staff in these residential service units are no exception. Subvented agencies are required to have effective human resource management policies and procedures, including appropriate disciplinary procedures to guard against staff misconduct.

End/Wednesday, March 12, 2003
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