Hong Kong warns 4 other care homes for disabled over abuse amid worries after arrest
Welfare chief Chris Sun declines to give details on letters sent to care homes in the past year, but says warnings can raise awareness
The Hong Kong government has sent letters to four other care homes for people with disabilities warning them to follow rules aimed at preventing abuse amid concerns over standards fuelled by the arrest of an employee at a fifth facility on suspicion of rape.
Welfare authorities said on Friday they had updated a code of practice to improve surveillance monitoring standards earlier this month, requiring care homes for people with disabilities to clearly assign staff and set time periods for them to observe real-time CCTV footage.
The facilities were also urged to explain how and when they extracted footage, and make clear records that could be reviewed by inspectors.
The government said the official warnings were issued after the care homes were found to have failed to formulate effective measures to protect residents from abuse, which violated the requirements of the Code of Practice for Residential Care Homes (Persons with Disabilities).
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said authorities had called on the centres and the Social Welfare Department to do better.
“The Social Welfare Department needs to do its job of monitoring and supervision thoroughly. The warning letters were for the individual homes on their suspected violation of rules or insufficiencies,” Sun said.
