ONLY one old people's home operator has taken advantage of a new law offering financial assistance to upgrade facilities.
Chairman of the more than 300-strong Association for Private Homes for the Elderly, Wong Yuk-yip, said many operators were not in a position to apply for funding at the moment.
'Many have applied to the Social Welfare Department for a licence and are waiting for an inspection before determining how they should upgrade their facilities,' she said.
The Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance introduced in April aims to improve conditions for residents in old people's homes.
Homes will be given one year's grace to improve their staffing ratios, fire exits and other design and structural requirements before getting a licence.
The Social Welfare Department has estimated that most of the more than 450 private homes which offer about 30,000 places for the elderly would fail to meet the new requirements.
Amid worries that all sub-standard homes would be forced to close, a one-off financial assistance scheme - an allocation of $50 million under the Lotteries Fund - has been introduced.
