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Following is a question by the Hon Cheung Kwok-che and a reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (December 15):
Question:
Some members of the social welfare sector have pointed out that due to chronic shortage of paramedical staff such as nurses, occupational therapists and physiotherapists, etc. in the social welfare sector, social service agencies providing elderly and rehabilitation services, etc. are unable to recruit enough paramedical staff. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) regarding the two-year full-time Enrolled Nurses Training Programme for the social welfare sector jointly organised by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) and the Hospital Authority, of the number of graduates in each year since the first batch of students graduated in 2008, and among these graduates, whether it knows the respective numbers of those who are still serving in social welfare organisations (SWOs); how the authorities ensure that this training programme can effectively alleviate the shortage of nurses in the social welfare sector;
(b) whether it knows, in each of the past five years, the respective numbers of registered nurses, enrolled nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech therapists and clinical psychologists who joined SWOs, those who resigned from SWOs, as well as those who left the social welfare sector (set out in table form); whether the authorities have assessed the shortages in such paramedics in the social welfare sector; if they have, of the assessment results (set out in table form the manpower shortage by each of these professions for SWD and non-governmental SWOs); if not, how the authorities ensure that the long-term manpower planning for the social welfare sector can appropriately meet the needs if such data are unavailable; and
(c) given that in its Review Report on the Lump Sum Grant Subvention System released in December 2008, the Lump Sum Grant Independent Review Committee has proposed that SWD should "provide additional resources for three years to welfare NGOs (non-governmental organisations) which need to employ paramedical staff or hire their services, so that they may offer more competitive salaries to recruit and retain these staff members", of the progress and details of implementation of this proposal by the authorities; and whether the Government will increase funding for SWOs for employing paramedical staff as well as continue with such measure upon expiry of the three-year period?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the three questions raised by the Hon Cheung Kwok-che is as follows:
(a) To alleviate the shortage of nurses in the welfare sector, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) has cooperated with the Hospital Authority (HA) since 2006 to organise a two-year full-time Enrolled Nurse (EN) training programme specially for the social welfare sector. So far, seven classes have been organised. Information provided by SWD indicates that, up till last month, 87% of the 203 trainees who graduated in 2008 were still working in the social welfare service sector; the percentage for the 97 trainees who graduated in 2009 even reached 94%. As regards the 146 trainees who just graduated last month, we do not have such information for the time being.
The three other classes of the EN training programme launched in 2009 and 2010 have a total of 309 trainees who will graduate in batches in 2011 and 2012. In addition, SWD will organise three more training classes in the coming two years, providing a total of 330 training places.
To encourage the trainees to join the social welfare sector upon graduation, SWD fully subsidises the tuition fee of each trainee at $50,000 for the whole course, on the condition that they will work as an EN in social welfare institutions (including non-governmental organisations or private agencies) providing elderly care, rehabilitation, family and child care or correctional service for a continuous period of no less than two years after completion of training. Trainees who fail to honour the undertaking are required to repay SWD the tuition fees in full or in part.
Besides, for those full-time employees who are currently working in the social welfare sector, if they wish to continue to serve in the sector as an EN after completion of the training programme, they will have priority when applying for the programme.
(b) According to existing legislation, registered nurses (RN), EN, occupational therapists and physiotherapists are required to register with their respective councils or boards before they can practise in Hong Kong. The number of registered persons in the above professions in the past five years is listed in the Annex distributed to Members. As there is no registration arrangement for speech therapists and clinical psychologists at the moment, we cannot provide similar statistics.
Regarding the number of paramedical staff working in the social welfare sector, since various types of paramedical staff can work in more than one sector (such as the healthcare sector, social welfare sector and education sector), the mobility of staff in these fields is rather high. Hence, it is difficult for us to know exactly the number of paramedical staff working in social welfare institutions. Nevertheless, the Government has an established mechanism to assess the manpower demand and supply in the social welfare sector and will conduct long-term planning accordingly.
Regarding the planning of tertiary training places, relevant government departments will regularly tender their views to the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong (UGC) on the manpower demand for these professions so that tertiary institutions can make reference to such information when preparing academic development proposals.
UGC has embarked on the triennial academic planning exercise for the academic years of 2012-15. To facilitate the planning work, SWD conducted in mid-2010 the latest round of projections on the manpower demand for various types of paramedical staff in the social welfare sector in the next 10 years (particularly the manpower demand in elderly care and rehabilitation services). Apart from understanding the manpower demand of social welfare service providers (especially the subvented organisations), SWD has also made reference to other related surveys and views in the projection process, such as the survey conducted by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service. Moreover, SWD has taken into account additional manpower demand arising from new initiatives/projects planned for implementation in future. The overall manpower projections have been relayed to UGC through the Education Bureau.
Apart from UGC-funded institutions, the nurse training schools of HA also offer EN and RN training programmes to meet the overall demand for nurses.
(c) The Lump Sum Grant Independent Review Committee published the Review Report on the Lump Sum Grant Subvention System in December 2008. One of the recommendations was that SWD should, in response to the labour market situation, provide additional resources for three years for welfare non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which need to employ paramedical staff or hire their services, so that these NGOs may offer more competitive salaries to recruit and retain these staff.
In accordance with the above recommendation, SWD secured funding from the Lotteries Fund in May 2009 and allocated the additional resources to NGOs in three yearly instalments starting from 2009-10 for paying the salaries and employers¡¯ Mandatory Provident Fund contributions of paramedical staff or relief staff as well as hiring paramedical services to provide services subvented by SWD.
NGOs may deploy the additional resources according to their human resources management policies and internal guidelines. They are required to submit annual financial reports to SWD during the three-year funding period on the income and expenses of the additional resources. The report to be submitted in the final year should also cover the overall income and expenses of the additional resources during the three-year period, including the number of paramedical staff employed. SWD is currently in the process of collecting and consolidating NGOs' first annual financial reports and related information.
A total of 74 NGOs are now benefiting from the above measure and the total amount of funding involved in the three-year period is about $277 million. The Administration will keep in view the manpower situation of paramedical staff in welfare NGOs and review the measure in due course.
Ends/Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Issued at HKT 13:33
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