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Left to fend for themselves

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The issues

Lack of places and long waiting times

There are 21,283 elderly people waiting for regular-care home places and 6,575 for nursing home places. The average waiting time for a regular-care place, which comes with basic care and limited nursing, is 22 months. The waiting time for nursing homes - which also provide medical and nursing care - can be up to 37 months. Each year, some 4,000 elderly Hongkongers die waiting for places in these homes.

Lack of nurses

The government shut down the Hospital Authority's nursing training programme in 1997 and raised nursing education to university level. Under the new system, the number of nursing graduates dropped by 70 per cent from 1,391 in 2001/02 to 416 the next year. There were only 300 graduates both in 2004 and 2005.

Public and private hospitals face chronic staff shortages. The Hospital Authority says it needs 1,000 nurses. It is the biggest employer of nurses in Hong Kong, employing 20,000 of the 40,000 nurses working here.

Last year the public system lost 1,010 nurses - or 5.3 per cent of its staff - to private hospitals. But these hospitals, too, need more nurses.

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