“[Supporting] the elderly is my No 1 priority.”

Hong Kong is now a “super-aged society”, as defined by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, where the elderly make up 21 per cent or more of the total population.

Around 1.68 million people aged 65 and above lived in Hong Kong last year, according to official statistics, accounting for 22.4 per cent of the 7.5 million population.

Limited land allocated for care services targeting the elderly and staffing shortages were among the difficulties the sector faced, Sun noted.

To boost the workforce, the government plans an additional quota of 8,000 care workers in batches over the next three years to a special labour importation scheme for residential care homes, starting in the third quarter of 2024.

Sun said imported workers were needed to meet rising demand at care homes which had struggled to recruit enough staff as well as for newly built facilities, as staff shortages affected service quality and could also delay the opening of sites.

“It is miserable for elderly residents in care homes to only take a shower every few days,” he said.

“But with the importation of workers and their cooperation with local staff, care services can be strengthened, with residents able to at least take a shower once a day.”

But Sun dismissed concerns importing workers would take away jobs from local staff or discourage them from joining the industry, adding the government was exploring ways to attract and retain them.

Sun said he hoped local staff, especially young people, could move up the career ladder to become better-paid health workers and then enrolled nurses, supported by new progression paths to be designed by the authorities.

Plans include adopting a skills-based avenue for employees to advance to a higher rank through training, he said, noting the current academic requirement of having completed Form Five studies or above barred less-educated middle-aged women from becoming health workers.

“We are exploring the progression path to provide opportunities for workers to advance and enrich their work, so young people will be willing to take the job,” he said.

Dr Lam Ching-choi, who chairs a steering committee on a review of manpower at care homes, told the Post he expected the new career progression path to be introduced in 2026, after completion of the assessment by a consultant and approval by the authorities and the Legislative Council.

As the population ages, more people are caring for elderly family members at home, and mounting stress has resulted in a string of tragedies in which carers took their own lives or attacked those they were looking after.

The incidents sparked calls for better support for carers, not only the underprivileged but also those from better-off families.

To provide support to carers, the government earlier introduced a series of measures such as a 24-hour hotline and a designated website for them.

Sun said the authorities would also explore recruiting community nannies to offer home care for the elderly to give their carers a break.

The idea is similar to the government’s Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project, which recruits support workers in the community to look after youngsters.

“Children now have community nannies, and some suggested a similar concept can also be applied to support the elderly … to have someone replace their carers to look after them at home,” he said.

But he noted obstacles such as carers’ confidence in support workers’ capabilities, as well as the issue of liability, needed to be addressed.

The new batch of facilities will be operated solely by mainland businesses, unlike the existing four under the scheme which are run by Hong Kong NGOs or private firms.

“We should not limit ourselves to our own area in elderly care,” Sun said, adding that residents would benefit from bigger living spaces, more abundant manpower and lower costs across the border.

The bay area refers to Beijing’s scheme to link Hong Kong, Macau and nine Guangdong cities into an integrated economic and business hub.

Separately, Sun defended legislative amendments to reform the Social Workers Registration Board, which oversees 27,000 employees in the sector.

He said he was not worried the move would strain relations between the authorities and social workers or affect future cooperation, despite a board member recently resigning.

The board lacked a mechanism to bar national security offenders from becoming registered professionals and it had a problematic code of practice, he said, reiterating earlier accusations.

“We hope to bring the board on track through the amendments,” he said.

In May, the city’s key decision-making Executive Council backed the amendments to increase the size of the board from 15 to 27 with more government-appointed members than elected ones.

The government’s amendments will also allow the body to promptly deregister social workers convicted of certain crimes and permanently disqualify those involved in serious offences such as endangering national security.

The Social Workers Registration (Amendment) Bill was introduced into the legislature last month for scrutiny.