A. Introduction

In the context of welfare services, elderly persons refer to those aged 60 or above. The fundamental objective of services for the elderly, as laid in the 1979 White Paper, is " To promote the well being of the elderly in all aspects of their living by providing services that will enable them to remain members of the community for as long as possible; and to the extent necessary, to provide residential care suited to the varying needs of the elderly. "

This was again echoed by the White Paper, Social Welfare into 1990s and Beyond, released in 1991. "An elderly person should be assisted to live in his own community with dignity and a spectrum of services should be provided in and by the community to facilitate his continued participation in society both socially and, if he likes, economically for as long as possible. Opportunities should be made available for elderly persons to play an active role in the community rather than treated in isolation as a class apart".

In the Report of the Working Group on Care for the Elderly released in August 1994, it had introduced the concepts of dignity of older persons, aging in place, continuum of residential care, and people-based services. Perhaps the best portrait of the HKSAR government's policy objectives towards the welfare of older persons in Hong Kong would be the comment made by the Chief Executive in his 1997 Policy speech that

" Caring for the Elderly is the responsibility of every family: we need to provide a sense of security, a sense of belonging and a feeling of health and worthiness" (老有所養 老有所屬 老有所為).

In the Policy Address 2000, the element of " quality of life" for our elders as also been added in the above Policy objective.

In sum, the basic principle is that older persons should be able to grow old in the community for as long as possible and the family remains the primary provider in meeting the needs of them. Based on this, a comprehensive set of services have been developed to cater the needs of the older persons and further develop their potential to live a productive old age. Support to the family carers to take care of their dependent older persons also start to foster.

The HKSAR government has also increased its financial commitment. In 2002-03, it is estimated that a total of 3.5 billion will be allocated for provision of various services for the older persons, which is an 8.5 % increase from the previous year.

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B. Elderly Service in Hong Kong