Reengineering elderly community services: a Hong Kong experience

Abstract

In 2000, the University of Hong Kong was commissioned by the Hong Kong Government to launch a consultancy study on the review of elderly community services, with the aims to assess whether the various services in the community were meeting the changing needs of the elderly people, and to find ways of better service integration. A series of recommendations were drawn up which include the revamping of elderly centres into District Elderly Community Centres (DECCs) and Neighborhood Elderly Centres (NECs). The proposal of revamping was subsequently launched in 2003. In 2005, the University of Hong Kong was again commissioned to conduct a study to examine the effectiveness of DECCs and NECs in performing their roles and functions to effectively meet the needs of the elderly people living in the community. In the evaluation report released in 2007, it was stated that the user satisfaction towards the various types of services provided by the centres was very high. The officers-in-charge were also largely positive towards the effectiveness of the service units as well as the impacts of the re-engineering exercise on the service users and the centres. However some service gaps and limitations were also identified, e.g. the lack of outreaching services to the hard-to-reach elderly, the difficulties in organizing program for family carers. Service proposals were formulated and launched to address these issues. As the authors have been involved in the service review, the subsequent evaluation study and continuous dialogue with the service operators, we can highlight some of the lessons learned in the re-engineering exercise, e.g. involvement of stakeholders, trust and resistance issues, change management, relationship with other government reforms and measures. This experience may shed light on future welfare service reforms in Hong Kong as well as other Asian countries.