Hong Kong urged to expand carer support scheme for low-income, vulnerable groups
The first action of the government's scheme, which began at 9am on Monday, would involve the Hospital Authority sending daily alerts to the Social Welfare Department on whether any carer from the 8,000 to 9,000 households listed in the database had been hospitalised.
The department would then follow up on the situation of the elderly or disabled person being cared for and provide services such as meal deliveries or respite services.
The scheme was set up after a series of tragedies in the city amid an increasing burden placed on carers' shoulders, with most cases involving single elderly people living alone and elderly couples taking care of each other.
Social worker Crystal Yuen Shuk-yan cited concerns about possible time lags and questioned whether the alerts from the Hospital Authority to the Social Welfare Department would be prompt enough.
'If a carer was hospitalised during the day but authorities only receive an alert the next morning, wouldn't it be a long period of time where their dependents do not receive food or care?' she said on a radio show on Monday.
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