Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ5: Enhanced Bought Place Scheme
Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a reply by the Secretary
for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today
(June 29):
Question :
The Government is currently buying places from private residential care homes
for the elderly ("RCHEs") through the Bought Place Scheme and Enhanced Bought
Place Scheme for accommodating the elderly in need. In this connection, will the
Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it currently regulates the remuneration and working hours of the
employees in those RCHEs participating in the above schemes; if so, of the
details; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) given that private RCHEs participating in the schemes concerned are required
to submit staff employment records, of the statistical figures on these RCHEs
compiled on the basis of the relevant records, including the respective numbers
of home manager, nurse, health worker, care worker and ancillary worker, etc,
their respective average monthly salaries as well as the median and average
daily working hours; and
(c) given that the authorities have imposed requirements in respect of the terms
of employment for non-skilled workers employed by contractors of outsourced
government services, which include eight hours of work and the requirement that
the monthly wages shall not be lower than the average monthly wages for the
relevant industries or occupations as published in the Census and Statistics
Department's updated Quarterly Report of Wage and Payroll Statistics at the time
when the tenders are invited, whether the authorities will consider extending
these requirements to cover employees of those private RCHEs participating in
the above schemes; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply :
Madam President,
(a) Residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) provide services and care to
elders around the clock. To ensure that elders are adequately taken care of and
their well-being is safeguarded, staff have to work in shifts to ensure the
24-hour operation of the homes. In the Code of Practice for Residential Care
Homes (Elderly Persons) (CoP) issued by the Social Welfare Department (SWD), it
is clearly stipulated that, for all types of RCHEs, there should be a minimum of
two shifts of staff serving in the homes.
In addition, in the invitation to private RCHEs to participate in the "Enhanced
Bought Place Scheme" (EBPS) issued in April 2003, SWD has encouraged operators
to consider, in consultation with their care workers, having each shift for not
longer than 10 hours, with a view to maintaining reasonable salary rates and
working hours.
Given that the number of places purchased by SWD from private RCHEs vary
greatly, and the scale, financial position, business strategy of each EBPS home
differs, SWD considers that participating homes should set their employment
terms (including remuneration and benefits) based on their individual conditions
as well as the supply and demand in the labour market. It would not be
appropriate for SWD to directly regulate such employment terms. Having said
that, operators must comply with the relevant requirement of the CoP regarding a
minimum of two shifts, as mentioned above. They must also abide by the relevant
provisions in the Employment Ordinance, especially the statutory requirements of
rest days.
(b) The purpose of asking RCHEs to submit "Staff Employment Record" is for SWD
to monitor whether the homes have met the required staff ratios under the EBPS,
and is not meant for collection of data on the salary level of individual staff
of the homes. SWD is therefore not in the position to provide the average
monthly salaries of different grades of staff employed in homes participating in
EBPS.
Regarding the number of working hours of care staff (including registered
nurses, enrolled nurses, health workers, care workers and auxiliary workers)
working in the 121 private EBPS homes, it ranges from 9.5 to 12 hours (including
meal break) per person per day on average.
(c) Financial Circular No.5/2004 regarding the mandatory requirements for
service contracts stipulates that for service contracts for which tenders are
invited on 6 May 2004 or after, if they rely heavily on the deployment of
non-skilled workers, the monthly salary rates of non-skilled workers to be
employed under the Government service contracts should not be less than the
average monthly wages for the relevant industry/occupation as published in the
latest Census and Statistics Department's Quarterly Report of Wage and Payroll
Statistics at the time when tenders are invited.
RCHEs provide 24 hours of personal care and health care to elders, and nursing
and personal care is mainly provided by nurses, health workers and care workers.
There are currently about 3,000 nurses, health workers and care workers employed
by the 121 EBPS homes, representing about three quarters of the total number of
staff employed by these homes. Nurses are professionals. Health workers must
undergo recognised training and be registered under the Residential Care Homes
(Elderly Persons) Regulation. As for care workers, a majority of them working in
more than 90 per cent of EBPS homes have completed some recognised personal care
worker training courses. Obviously, professional nurses, trained health workers
and care workers who provide personal and nursing care in RCHEs are not
non-skilled workers. Neither do residential care services rely heavily on
non-skilled workers. Therefore the provisions in Financial Circular No.5/2004
regarding the mandatory requirements for service contracts are not applicable to
private RCHEs participating in EBPS.
The last time SWD launched the EBPS was in April 2003, before the Financial
Circular No.5/2004. The requirements of Financial Circular No.5/2004 are
effective only for service contracts for which tenders are invited on May 6,
2004 or after, they are therefore not applicable to private RCHEs that already
joined SWD's EBPS.
Ends/Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Issued at HKT 15:10
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