'Let mainland elderly homes join cross-border scheme'

The chairman of the Elderly Commission on Saturday said he hopes the government can allow mainland-operated care homes to join the cross-boundary elderly care scheme. Under current policy, elderly people in queue for subsidised care homes in Hong Kong can apply for care homes in the nine Greater Bay Area cities on the mainland, but only those operated by Hong Kong organisations. Speaking on an RTHK programme, Donald Li said by expanding the scheme, the elderly can have more options, provided that a review system is enforced for quality control of service. "Most people are concerned about the financial health of care homes, to know whether they can operate in the long term. People are also concerned about the hygiene of care homes, and whether carers received training or not. The government is doing inspections now," he said. He admitted that the waiting time for elderly care home admission is long and urged to allocate places for those in need.