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Leung Chun-ying (CY Leung)
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Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said he had visited some homes for the elderly in the past and found their service qualities could vary. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

CY Leung blames nursing home abuse on Hong Kong's shortage of land

Chief executive says high rents mean low quality in city's nursing homes

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying yesterday said the city's shortage of land on which to build was a key culprit in the poor treatment of residents at its homes for the elderly.

Leung made the comments two days after the Chinese-language newspaper reported that residents of the Cambridge Nursing Home in Tai Po were left naked or half-dressed on an open-air podium for up to 90 minutes before staff took them to shower.

"If we had more land, we could provide space to non-profit organisations to offer more elderly home services … the elderly and their children could afford a better service," he told a Legislative Council question-and-answer session yesterday.

While Labour Party lawmaker Dr Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung criticised Leung for failing to introduce an accreditation system to monitor private homes, Leung said the root of the issue was the shortage of land.

"Even with an accreditation system, if the issue over land is not resolved, if home prices and rent remain expensive, elderly people still will not get good services at private facilities," the chief executive said.

He was responding to Cheung's question about the incident at the Cambridge facility, in which residents in wheelchairs were stripped by staff members outdoors before they were taken into an indoor shower area, footage of which recorded last month.

Leung said he was "saddened" by the incident, and had visited some homes for the elderly in the past and found the quality of their services varied.

After the Legco session, Cheung joined a protest outside the Social Welfare Department headquarters in Wan Chai, attended by some 20 mostly elderly people representing 21 concern groups. The protestors called for stricter enforcement of laws governing the operation of homes for the elderly, and a complete review of regulations.

"How ridiculous [Leung's] comment was, comparing the economic conditions in Hong Kong and how we treat the elderly," Cheung said. The incident at Cambridge, he went on, "is surely the shame of Hong Kong."

A representative from the nursing home workers' union dismissed Leung's comment as irrelevant.

"Service quality and land cannot be linked together as such," said Lau Ka-lok, organising secretary for the Community Care and Nursing Home Workers General Union. "Even with ample space, without a good regulatory system in place there will still be cases of elderly abuse."

Cecilla Li Yuen-wah, the department's assistant director for elderly issues, said the government was highly concerned about the incident.

While the licence for the second and third floors of Cambridge Nursing Home will expire on Sunday, Li said an investigation was ongoing. Even after the licence expired, Li said the home could still operate until the director of social welfare decided not to issue a new licence.

The department will look for spaces in other nursing homes to accommodate residents if the Tai Po operator does not receive a new licence.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: CY pins elder abuse on land dearth
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