Previously only homes that have been prosecuted have been revealed but department wants to also reveal those who have had warnings
EMILY.TSANG@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Monday, 09 May, 2016, 8:32pm
The Cambridge Nursing Home sparked controversy last year when it was found its staff were making elderly residents wait naked in outside common areas for showers. Photo: Felix Wong
Poorly performing care homes for the elderly and disabled could be exposed under new measures to publish their records online, lawmakers heard yesterday.
The Social Welfare Department was seeking legal advice on whether it could release details of institutions which it had previously warned, said the director Carol Yip Man-kuen.
“In the past, we have communicated with the homes when warning them but we never made the details public,” Yip said in a Legislative Council panel.
“In the future, we are thinking of new, improved measures, which will involve releasing the names on the internet.”
But lawmaker and barrister Alvin Yeung Ngok-hiu expressed concern that the centres would call for a judicial review into any decision of releasing their details to the public.
“If the government is really going to expose the care homes that have been warned, you have to make sure there is an appeal system for them before making their details public,” Yeung said.
Under the existing set up, the department would only release the details of homes for the elderly or disabled which have been prosecuted.
The new measures were announced amid discussions in Legco panel on whether the department should create a new supernumerary post of an assistant director to strengthen the inspection and monitoring for the care homes.
Yip said the department had made more than 5,000 visits annually to about 728 care homes, which offer 71,869 and 16,749 residential care places for the elderly and disabled respectively.
According to the department, since 2010 to last year, it issued 2,950 advisory letters and 350 warning letters. During the same period, 31 private care homes were successfully prosecuted, involving 44 offences.
The lawmakers, however, expressed concern about a series of poor performances among the city’s care homes, exposed by the media and criticised the department for its leniency.
Lawmaker Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung criticised the government for being lax in supervision on the quality of care homes in the city.
“The poor quality is a shame for Hong Kong,” Cheung said. “The problem would not be solved by adding a new post of assistant director.”
Last year, the Cambridge Nursing Home, situated on Wan Tau Street, sparked controversy when Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao revealed its staff had been making elderly residents wait naked in outside common areas for showers.
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1942946/welfare-department-wants-expose-underperforming
