Hong Kong Unveils Comprehensive Strategies to Address Challenges of Aging Population

Government announces Report on Ageing Society Strategies

The Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration (DCS), MrCheukWing-hing, joined by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare (SLW), Mr Chris Sun, and the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, held a press conference today (September 18) to announce the Report on Ageing Society Strategies (the Report) (see attachment).

Mr Cheuk said, "Hong Kong's society continues to age. It is projected that by 2046, the population aged 65 and above in Hong Kong will increase to 2.74 million, accounting for more than one-third of the total population. By then, approximately one in three Hong Kong residents will be an elder. In view of the challenges brought by an ageing society, the Government and all sectors of society must plan ahead. Since its establishment in November last year, the Working Group on Ageing Society Strategies (the Working Group) has comprehensively reviewed and explored the policies and measures of various bureaux in response to our ageing society, and has submitted the Report to the Chief Executive. The Report puts forward 73 strategic measures, including innovative and new measures as well as enhanced measures, representing the collective effort of cross-departmental collaboration to address the challenges brought by an ageing society."

The strategic measures cover 11 areas, including elderly health care; elderly residential care services; cross-boundary elderly care; elderly community and living support; leveraging technology for "smart ageing"; elderly-friendly urban planning and design; elderly travel, social life and learning; elderly financial security and safety; human resources and public finances; silver economy, industries and opportunities; as well as after-death planning and related services. These multipronged strategic measures not only cater to the needs of the elderly across different aspects, but also comprehensively tackle the challenges spawned by an aging society.

Among the measures put forward in the Report, on elderly health care, the Health Bureau (HHB) will strengthen healthcare services, facilities and manpower. It will integrate the services of Elderly Health Centres this year by increasing the number of service points and service capacity, providing more comprehensive health assessments and reducing waiting time with appropriate referrals to the Primary Healthcare Co-care Network for chronic disease management. The HHB will also explore including additional pilot medical institutions under the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme, and facilitate health management and cross-boundary health record sharing through eHealth in an orderly manner. The services of the Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong Kong and the Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine Services of the Hospital Authority (HA) will also be enhanced, covering diseases common among the elderly. As regards healthcare facilities and manpower, the HHB will take into consideration the service needs arising from an ageing population when reviewing the Second Hospital Development Plan. Moreover, the HHB has commissioned the HA to carry out a new round of the healthcare manpower projection exercise, under which the supply and demand of healthcare manpower will be assessed taking into account factors such as demographic and age structure shifts (including an ageing society).

For elderly residential care services and community care services, as announced in the Policy Address, the Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) will increase the number of subsidised long-term care places for the elderly by around 3500 by end 2027. Moreover, the LWB will provide, on a pilot basis, residential care home for the elderly premises newly built by the Government to the industry for self-financed operation to increase the overall capacity of residential care home places and allow service providers greater flexibility to provide diversified elderly residential care services according to market demands.

Leveraging technology for "smart ageing" is another important aspect. To this end, the LWB will establish the "welfare information sharing e-platform" in phases to integrate social welfare data of relevant government departments and non-governmental organisations, as well as utilise AI to facilitate early identification of high-risk individuals or families, so as to enable timely intervention and targeted response. In addition, the LWB will set up an "AI for Welfare Lab" to identify pain points and difficulties encountered in social welfare services, as well as fund the development and pilot implementation of AI solutions, with a view to promoting their wide adoption across the social welfare sector. This will help enhance service efficiency and quality, improve resource matching, reduce administrative burdens on organisations and bring more precise and efficient support to groups in need. The LWB and the Social Welfare Department will also encourage the social welfare sector to provide services with innovative approaches, such as providing remote care services through online or hybrid modes so as to provide more flexible and sustainable care options for the elderly and their carers. Tentatively, social welfare organisations will test out such arrangements within 2026.

The Government will continue to promote silver economy development. The Office of the Government Economist will analyse the changes in the socio-economic characteristics of the elderly population and consumption patterns, etc, to help formulate silver economy measures in line with market characteristics. In addition, the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau will actively expand the certification schemes for elderly products and services and explore with relevant organisations the expansion of the scope of certification to other areas. This includes exploring the formulation of relevant standards for mobility aids, such as walking sticks, wheelchairs and exoskeleton systems, and studying their inclusion in the list of Greater Bay Area Standards.

As the Report is forward-looking, the Government will review and update relevant parts based on the latest circumstances and data. For instance, the LWB will, having regard to the results of the 2026 Population Census, review the planning ratios for elderly facilities in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines. The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, together with relevant policy bureaux, will closely monitor the impact of the ageing society on public finances and consider the need to formulate appropriate measures in a timely manner.

Mr Cheuk added that during the course of deliberation, the Working Group held five consultation sessions to widely listen to the views of the Elderly Commission and relevant industry stakeholders. The Working Group thanked all relevant sectors for providing valuable views, which are conducive to the formulation of measures by the Working Group to effectively respond to the needs of society. Policy bureaux and departments will progressively implement these measures. The Government will continue to join hands with all sectors of society to actively address ageing.

The Chief Executive announced in the 2025 Policy Address the establishment of the Working Group, with the DCS as the leader and the SLW as the deputy leader. Members of the Working Group include all 15 policy bureaux and the Chief Executive’s Policy Unit.

The full report is available on the website (www.cso.gov.hk/eng/links/rass.htm).

Government announces Report on Ageing Society Strategies Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Government announces Report on Ageing Society Strategies Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Government announces Report on Ageing Society Strategies Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Prince of Wales Hospital announces sentinel event

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority.

The spokesperson for Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH) announces a sentinel event today (September 18):

A 54-year-old male patient, who had a history of dementia and stroke, and required a puree diet, was sent to the Accident and Emergency Department of PWH by ambulance on the morning of September 16 due to deteriorated mental status. He was admitted to a medical ward for treatment. During feeding the patient began choking and developed a cardiac arrest, and subsequently succumbed late that same night.

The hospital is very concerned about the incident and immediately launched an investigation. Preliminary findings indicated that upon admission, the patient did not carry any identification document, and a "pseudo identifier" was generated for registration. According to the patient's clinical condition, the attending doctor gave a "diet as tolerated" order for nursing staff to follow up. However, as the hospital's Dietary and Catering Management System defaults to arrange a regular meal for patients registered under a "pseudo identifier", and a nursing staff member did not complete checking the patient's previous diet records to adjust the diet order, a regular meal was served to the patient that night.

At around 6.40pm, the patient was found feeling unwell when a patient care assistant (PCA) began feeding the patient a regular meal. The PCA immediately stopped the feeding and sought help from a nursing staff member. Upon examination, the nursing staff member noted a drop in the patient's blood oxygen saturation level, and immediately called clinicians to suction the patient and administer oxygen therapy. Clinicians from the Ear, Nose and Throat Department and the Intensive Care Unit were also called to assist in removing the foreign object in the patient's airway. The patient developed a cardiac arrest during the process, and his condition continued to deteriorate. He succumbed late that same night. Upon reviewing the patient's history after the incident, the hospital found that the patient had been frequently hospitalised before due to underlying diseases. Following speech therapy assessment, a puree diet was recommended for the patient due to dysphagia.

The hospital is deeply saddened by the patient's passing, and has met with the patient's family to explain the incident, and extended its sincere apologies and condolences. The hospital will keep close communication with the family to render necessary assistance.

The hospital has devised immediate measures, including reminding healthcare staff to thoroughly assess patients' clinical conditions and diet orders before making meal arrangements, and reviewing the default meal setting of the system. The nursing staff member and PCA concerned have been temporarily arranged for non-clinical duties.

The hospital has reported the incident to the Hospital Authority Head Office via the Advance Incident Reporting System. A root cause analysis panel has been appointed to review the incident thoroughly. The investigation and recommended improvement measures will be completed within eight weeks. The incident has also been referred to the Coroner for follow-up.

The Root Cause Analysis Panel members are as follows:

Chairperson:

Dr Kenny Yuen

Hospital Chief Executive, Tseung Kwan O Hospital and Haven of Hope Hospital

Members:

Professor Chair Sek-ying

Vice-Director of Research, the Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, the Chinese University of Hong Kong

Ms Moon Chan

Manager (Patient Safety & Risk Management), the Hospital Authority

Dr Chan Tak-yeung

Deputy Chief of Service (Medicine & Geriatrics), Kwong Wah Hospital

Ms Cheung Shuk-yee

General Manager (Nursing), Shatin Hospital

Ms Lee Lai-shan

Department Operations Manager (Medicine), Tseung Kwan O Hospital

Dr Wong Wing-yin

Consultant (Medicine & Geriatrics), Caritas Medical Centre

Dr Linda Yu

Service Director (Quality and Safety), New Territories East Cluster

Source: AI-found images