Number of elderly dying in Hong Kong while awaiting care home places soars

The number of elderly people who die while waiting for places in care homes has shot up in the past four years, the Audit Commission has revealed in a damning report.

It recommended a review of the assessment system and urged the government to provide more subsidised places to meet rising demand.

The commission found that 5,700 people died last year while waiting to enter care homes, up from the average of 4,000 to 4,500 annual deaths recorded before 2010.

In addition to the increasing mortality rate, the report showed that the Social Welfare Department had been watering down its statistics to downplay the severity of the space shortage.

The department reported in August that 30,690 people were on the waiting list and estimated the average waiting time at three years. But that number did not include 6,800 who had been assessed as needing a place in a care home but were either receiving community care services or were on a "dual track", meaning they could wait for a place at a care home or remain in the community.

Those 6,800 "represent a hidden, but not negligible demand, which should have been disclosed when reporting the waiting list and suitably taken into account in service planning", the audit report said.

In addition to the official underreporting of the number of people waiting for care home space, the audit found that only a fraction of the assessors who evaluate elderly people's needs and match them with services did the bulk of the work. Just 36 of the 2,700 people accredited as assessors did 70 per cent of all the work carried out from June last year to June this year.