Abstract
The Aging Tsunami as it is often quoted to describe the worrying situations of rapidly aging in China has not met with detail planning in facilities upgrade and careful consideration in service models. Broad brushed central policies categorizes services into home care, community care and institutional care and set policy goals at 90-6-4, representing the percentage of older people in receiving respective care. This leaves local officials helpless on how these ideals can be actualized. Some cities have inclined to build huge older people homes and pour resources into institutional care, forgetting the need for older people to be connected with the society. This paper reviews the historical developments of older people services in Hong Kong and recommends an integrative model of social work services connecting institutional, community and home care into a seamless network. The city of Zhuhai will be presented as a perfect experimental city on how its existing facilities can be converted and developed according to the model. Survey on the situations of the 16 public older people homes will be used to illustrate the potentials of an integrative model.
Highlights
The “China Social Services Network Development Plan (2011-2015)” proposed by 2015 to “establish a basic infrastructure which is well organized, appropriately scaled, smoothly operated, quality serviced, properly supervised and sustainable social care service system for the older people” [1]
The Plan further explains that the social service system for older people mainly consists of three components: home care, community care and institutional care [2]
Home innovation to allow for barrier free environment, provision of walking aids and special subsidy to those who cannot take care of themselves are recommended by the Plan as supplementary home care measures
Summary
The “China Social Services Network Development Plan (2011-2015)” (hereinafter referred to as the Plan) proposed by 2015 to “establish a basic infrastructure which is well organized, appropriately scaled, smoothly operated, quality serviced, properly supervised and sustainable social care service system for the older people” [1]. Including semi-urban and rural areas, the number of older people who are not able to take of themselves because of various disabilities and dis-functioning is 33 million, accounting for 19% of the total elderly population. It means that one in five of the older people need certain degree of assisted care. Day care facilities should be incorporated into existing old age homes and enhance its link with the community These old homes can become District Older People Service Centre, with home help and community health care team serving all the older people living with or without family members in the district. To reach out to the community and develop a network of services to older people
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