Hong Kong lawmakers cast doubt on new care home role to attract talent
Shortage in care home workers attributed to lack of professional recognition, unclear promotion pathways, study finds
Hong Kong lawmakers have raised concerns over a plan by authorities to introduce a new care home role to solve long-standing staff shortages in the industry, saying the measure may fail to attract new blood.
The proposal for a “health and care practitioner” role was floated in a government-commissioned study released in January, which attributed the manpower crunch to the lack of professional recognition and unclear promotion pathways in the sector.
The study also highlighted the high turnover among enrolled nurses, who often leave for better prospects in the medical sector after completing the year of service required in their government-subsidised training programme.
Health and care practitioners are placed one rank above health workers, and are expected to cover duties such as intramuscular injections and insertion or replacement of indwelling urinary catheters.
Health workers with three years of experience will be the first to be invited to undergo the training. The entry requirements will be the same as the nurse training programme.
But lawmakers at a panel meeting in the legislature on Monday expressed scepticism about its effectiveness in attracting new blood to the industry and solving the long-standing manpower shortage.