The Community Care and Nursing Home Workers General Union (the Union) proposed to the government to monitor the use of grant that aims at enhancing services provided by nursing homes and integrated home care services (IHCS).

The government implemented a subvention reform package comprising a lump sum grant to replace a reimbursement system in 2000.

There are about 700 nursing homes in Hong Kong, 180 of them are receiving the government grant.

To serve senior citizens who wish to stay at home, 60 IHCS teams were set up to provide caring services.

The Union has talked to 100 members over the past eight months, and discovered that the quality of services provided by the nursing homes and IHCS teams have been declining since the welfare reform.

Heavy workload and low salary have been driving nursing home workers away, said chairperson of the Union Chung Wai-ling.

Due to the high turnover, quality of certain services are seriously affected. They include hygiene and feeding services.

For example, staff are supposed to change diapers for the elderly residents every two to three hours, yet there is not enough manpower to maintain the practice which often leads to skin problems.

The Union also found that some nursing homes are imposing fees which were not charged before the grant.

For instance, the elderly residents have to pay for "escort services" to attend medical appointments or outdoor activities.

Ms Tang, whose mother suffers Alzheimer's disease and lives in a nursing home in Kwun Tong, is frustrated with its poor services.

Her mother fell down in the nursing home in 2006, nobody informed Tang until her mother was taken to hospital the next day. She was found to have a fractured ankle.

Meanwhile, the Union's executive Cheng Ching-fat said the food provided at nursing homes is often of poor quality due to an inflation.

"They provide fewer fruits, broth and snacks, as these are not food items that are required by the Social Welfare Department (SWD)," he said.

Some IHCS providers even cut back on their cleaning services, Cheng added.

The Union called on the government to monitor the use of subsidy by nursing homes as they were found to have put aside a large amount of money while enhancement is needed for a number of their services.

The SWD receives about four complaints concerning services provided by nursing homes and IHCS every year.

"The SWD will make review visits and conduct on-site assessments regularly," SWD told China Daily.

(HK Edition 05/09/2008 page1)