Public elderly services in Hong Kong are broadly divided into Community Care Services and Residential Care Services. Community Care and Support Services are provided by 41 District Elderly Community Centres (DECC), 169 Neighbourhood Elderly Centres (NEC), 60 teams of Integrated Home Care Services (IHCS), 34 teams of Enhanced Home and Community Care Services (EHCCS) and 77 units of Day Care Centre/Unit for the Elderly (DE/DCU). Only IHCS for frail cases, EHCCS and DE/DCU are categorised under LTC services. Residential Care Services consist of two types of residential care homes, namely, Care-and-Attention (C&A) Home and Nursing Home (NH). As of  31^st of December 2019, there are 28,160 subsidised residential places (37% of total residential places) (Social Welfare Department, 2019c).

Both the needs for community and residential care services generally increase with age. In 2015, 70.3% of Community Care Services users and 79.4% of Residential Care Services users are aged 80 and over (Working Group on Elderly Services Programme Plan, 2017).

In 2016, it was estimated that the demand for subsidised LTC services was 59,572 places, yet, there was only 37,957 places available. It was also projected that the demand for subsidised LTC services will increase to 77,989 places in 2030 and reaching a peak of 124,609 places in 2051. With the rapid increase in the ageing population, together with the decrease in capacity of family carers in the coming decades, there will be a severe upward pressure on the demand for LTC services, especially for Residential Care Services (Working Group on Elderly Services Programme Plan, 2017). On the 31^st December 2019, a total of 10,573 applicants had been on the waiting list for subsidised community care services with the average waiting time of 14-15 months (Social Welfare Department, 2020f), and 41,011 applicants for residential care services with the average waiting time of 20-22 months (Social Welfare Department, 2020j).

The Social Welfare Department also launched the Pilot Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong, a nearby province in the mainland China, which gives elderly persons the opportunity to chose to live in the subsidised residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) in Shenzhen and Zhaoqing, both operated by two Hong Kong-based NGOs (Social Welfare Department, 2019, September 30).

References:

Social Welfare Department. (2019, September 30). Pilot Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong. Retrieved from https://www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_pubsvc/page_elderly/sub_residentia/id_guangdong/

Social Welfare Department. (2019c). Provision of Residential Care Services for the Elderly (Subsidised versus Non subsidised Places) as at 31.12.2019. Hong Kong: Social Welfare Department, HKSAR Retrieved from https://www.swd.gov.hk/storage/asset/section/632/en/Dec%202019/3.Provision_of_RCHEs_(Subsidised_versus_Non-subsidised_Places)(31.12.19).pdf.

Social Welfare Department. (2020f). LTC Statistics CCS-Eng (Dec_2019).  Retrieved from https://www.swd.gov.hk/storage/asset/section/2789/en/LTC_Statistics_CCS(Eng)(Dec_2019).pdf.

Social Welfare Department. (2020j). Statistics on waiting list for subsidised residential care services for the elderly (Dec 2019).  Retrieved from https://www.swd.gov.hk/storage/asset/section/632/en/LTC_statistics_HP-Eng(201912).pdf.

Working Group on Elderly Services Programme Plan, Elderly Commission of Government of Hong Kong SAR,. (2017). Elderly Services Programme Plan. Hong Kong: Elderly Commission of Government HKSAR Retrieved from https://www.elderlycommission.gov.hk/en/download/library/ESPP_Final_Report_Eng.pdf.