Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ5: Measures to prevent elder abuse

Following is a question by the Hon Tam Yiu-chung and an oral reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (February 8):

Question:

As a number of cases of abuse of elderly persons have recently come to light, will the Government inform this Council of:

(a) the number of cases of abuse of the elderly handled by the relevant authorities in each of the past three years and, among them, the respective percentages of cases involving psychological abuse and physical abuse; and

(b) the measures to prevent abuse of the elderly and enhance protection for them?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) Different countries have different views on the definition of "elder abuse". In Hong Kong, in accordance with the Procedural Guidelines for Handling Elder Abuse Cases (the Guidelines), elder abuse refers to the commission or omission of any act that endangers the welfare or safety of the elders, including physical abuse, psychological abuse, neglect, financial abuse, abandonment and sexual abuse. A large proportion of the elder abuse cases involves physical abuse or psychological abuse.

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has put in place the Central Information System on Elder Abuse Cases (the System) to collect statistics on elder abuse cases handled by the SWD, Hong Kong Police Force, Hospital Authority, Department of Health, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), etc. SWD has no official statistics on elder abuse cases that took place during or before 2003 since the System was not set up until 2004. According to statistics collated through the System, there were 329 elder abuse cases in 2004, of them 201 (61.1%) cases were physical abuse, and 45 cases (13.7%) were psychological abuse. As for the period between January and September 2005, 176 elder abuse cases were recorded, of them 142 cases (80.7%) were physical abuse and 14 cases (8%) were psychological abuse.

According to the data collected during the period between January and September 2005, victims in most of the abuse cases were female, involving 108 cases (61.4%). As regards the age of abused victims, regardless of the gender of the victims, most of them were in the 60-64 age group, accounting for 57 cases (32.4%).

As to the relationship between the abused victims and the abusers, most of them are spouses, accounting for 144 cases (81.8%) followed by parents and children, accounting for 16 cases (9.1%), and parents-in-law and daughters-in-law, accounting for 6 cases (3.4%).

(b) The objective of Government's elderly policy is to enable elders to live with dignity, and provide them with necessary support, with a view to enhancing their sense of belonging and enabling them to enjoy a quality life.

The Elderly Commission (EC) has held discussions over the problem of elder abuse. Taking into account the valuable advice of the EC, we have set the working priorities of tackling the problems as follows:

(i) Enhance the awareness of the public and the professional sectors on the problem of elder abuse through community education, case intervention, outreaching services, volunteers training, etc.

(ii) Implement the Guidelines and adopt an inter-departmental /institutional/professional collaboration approach to handle elder abuse cases.

(iii) SWD will regularly organise training courses for relevant personnel (including social workers, medical personnel, police officers and other non-professional staff, etc.) to enhance their knowledge and skills of handling elder abuse cases.

(iv) Strengthen publicity and public education to promote a sense of worthiness among elders and create a social climate of caring for the elders.

(v) SWD staff will accord top priority to the safety and welfare of the elders and take immediate intervention actions once an elder abuse case has been discovered, including the call of multi-disciplinary case conference.

(vi) Targeting the abusers, SWD will roll out a pilot counselling scheme this year. It will be run by the Department and an NGO respectively. The results of, and experiences gained from, the pilot scheme will help us better shape the way forward.

The Administration will also continue to offer assistance to the abused elders and their families through the existing services provided by various organisations at different levels, including crisis intervention, counselling and other support services.



Ends/Wednesday, February 8, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:46

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