Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ16: Dementia
Following is a question by the Hon Tang Ka-piu and a written reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today
(June 17):
Question:
According to the information released by the Hong Kong Council of Social
Service, currently about 10 per cent of the elderly persons (i.e. people aged 65
or above) in Hong Kong, i.e. about 100 000 people, are suffering from dementia.
With an ageing population, the number of such patients is estimated to reach 280
000 by 2036. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has compiled, in the past five years, statistics on the annual
changes in the number of dementia patients in order to project the demand for
the relevant services; if it has, of the relevant data; if not, whether it will
consider compiling the statistics;
(2) among the current users of subsidised community care and support services
for the elderly (including day care centres for the elderly and integrated home
care services (frail cases)) and the residents of care-and-attention homes, of
the respective numbers of persons confirmed to have dementia;
(3) among the elderly persons currently assessed to be of mild, moderate and
severe impairment levels under the Standardised Care Need Assessment Mechanism
for Elderly Services, of the respective numbers and percentages of those who are
suffering from dementia and, among them, the number of persons who are waiting
for subsidised long-term community care and support services;
(4) of the details of the services provided in the past three years by the
Government for the elderly persons suffering from dementia, including the name
of the services, the amount of the annual public expenditure and the number of
service recipients; and
(5) whether it knows the number of places and the utilisation of the services
provided by non-governmental organisations (NGO) for elderly persons suffering
from dementia; if it knows, of the details of such services last year; in view
of the rising trend in the number of dementia patients amid an ageing
population, whether the authorities will consider subsidising, through the
Community Care Fund or other means, the patients to use the fee-charging
services operated by such NGO?
Reply:
President,
(1) The Government does not compile statistics on the annual changes in the
number of persons with dementia in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, relevant service
providers have been closely monitoring the needs of persons with dementia so as
to provide them with appropriate services.
(2) The Social Welfare Department (SWD) does not keep statistics on the service
users of various types of elderly services who are diagnosed with dementia.
(3) The SWD does not keep statistics on persons diagnosed with dementia among
those elderly persons who have been assessed as having different levels of
impairment under the Standardised Care Need Assessment Mechanism for Elderly
Service.
(4) Support services for the elderly persons ageing in the community and their
families are provided by the 210 subvented elderly centres in the territory. The
services include training and counselling services, assistance in forming
carers' mutual help groups, setting up resources centres, demonstration and loan
of rehabilitation equipment, etc. Since 2014-15, an additional full-year
recurrent funding of some $22 million has been provided to 41 district elderly
community centres to employ more social workers with a view to enhancing the
support services for elderly persons with dementia and their carers.
For frail elderly persons (including, among others, those with dementia) and
their families, the Government provides support through 72 subsidised day care
centres/units for the elderly (DE/DCU), 34 enhanced home and community care
services teams, 60 integrated home care services teams and some 26 900
subsidised residential care places for the elderly. Moreover, Dementia
Supplement (DS) has been provided as an additional support for elderly persons
with dementia in subvented residential care homes for the elderly (RCHE),
private RCHE participating in the Enhanced Bought Place Scheme (EBPS) and
subsidised DE/DCU. The expenditure incurred in 2013-14 and 2014-15 and the
expenditure estimated for 2015-16 is as follows:
2013-14 2014-15
2015-16
($ million) ($ million)
($ million)
Subvented RCHE /
Private RCHE
202.2
210.1
219.8
Participating
in EBPS
Subsidised DE /
14.7
15.7
17.6
DCU
With the funding allocation of DS, RCHE and DE/DCU concerned may employ
additional professional staff, including occupational therapists, nurses and
social workers, etc, or purchase relevant professional services. DE/DCU may also
use DS to provide training programmes and services for elderly persons with
dementia as well as support services for their carers as necessary.
The number of service units allocated with DS and the number of elderly persons
benefited in 2013-14 and 2014-15 and the corresponding estimates for 2015-16 are
as follows:
2013-14 2014-15
2015-16
Number of Subvented
RCHE / Private RCHE 256
253
261
Participating in EBPS
Number of Subsidised 66
70
71
DE / DCU
Number of Elderly about
about
about
Persons Benefitted 5 600
5 800
6 400
On health-care services, the multi-disciplinary teams of the Hospital Authority
(HA) are committed to providing holistic health-care services for persons with
dementia and their carers. Health-care professionals will formulate
individualised treatment plans for patients according to the severity of their
conditions and provide appropriate in-patient, out-patient, day rehabilitation
training and community outreach services according to the needs of each case.
The HA also provides support and training for families and carers of elderly
persons with dementia through different channels with a view to enhancing their
understanding of the disease and the relevant caring skills.
Elderly patients residing at RCHE, including those suffering from dementia, are
supported by the outreach services of the HA through its community geriatric
assessment teams and psychogeriatric outreach teams. Services provided include
formulation of treatment plans, monitoring of patients' recovery and follow-up
consultations. The psychogeriatric outreach teams also provide training for
staff of RCHE when required to equip them with the necessary skills in taking
care of elderly patients with dementia. At present, the services of community
geriatric assessment teams cover about 640 RCHE while the psychogeriatric
outreach services cover most of the subsidised RCHE and over 200 private RCHE in
the territory.
The HA has also made available information relating to dementia, care management
and community resources on its one-stop Smart Patient website, with a Smart
Elders webpage dedicated to strengthening support for high-risk elderly
patients.
Regarding the use of drugs, HA has been taking measures over the years to
increase the use of new anti-dementia drugs with proven clinical efficacy to
improve the quality of life and delay the functional deterioration of dementia
patients. In 2014-15, HA allocated an additional funding of $12 million to
increase the use of new anti-dementia drugs from which about 2 700 more patients
benefited. The HA will continue to keep in view the development of new
anti-dementia drugs and review the use of drugs through the established
mechanism.
The HA does not maintain statistics on the breakdown of expenditure for dementia
support service.
(5) The SWD provides support services for elderly persons with dementia through
subsidising non-governmental organisations, and details are set out in part (4)
above. The SWD also launched the first phase of the Pilot Scheme on Community
Care Service Voucher for the Elderly in September 2013. At present, seven
recognised service providers under the Pilot Scheme offer specialised day care
services for demented elderly persons, providing a total of 104 service places.
As at end-May 2015, 187 elderly users have received such services. The SWD does
not have detailed information on the self-financing support and care services
for demented elderly persons provided by non-governmental organisations.
Ends/Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Issued at HKT 17:35
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