Homes for the elderly are increasingly turning away dementia sufferers, according to a specialist on old-age diseases.
In some cases elderly people have been forced out of homes, he said.
While dementia patients are among those most in need of residential and day-care services, many homes run by private and government-subsidised groups are refusing them.
Exact numbers are not available, but Dr Edwin Yu Chi-shing, consultant psychiatrist and consultant psychogeriatrician at Kwai Chung Hospital, said an alarming number of elderly people were expelled from residential elderly homes each month.
Social Welfare Department policy requires a home to reach agreement with the family and find another home before letting a resident go, but this provision is often breached without penalty.
'Few of these families dare to speak out because they fear they might have no chance to find another centre for the patients,' said Dr Yu, who is also chairman of the Hong Kong Alzheimer's Disease and Brain Failure Association.
A Social Welfare Department spokesman said: 'If an elderly home finds the health condition of an elderly person becomes so bad that its own services cannot accommodate, it can apply to move the elderly person to another home with more intensive care. It should find a place for the elderly before asking them to move out, and they must obtain an agreement with the family.'
