Dementia Community Support Scheme aimed to enhance the nursing and support services in the community aspect for the mild to moderate dementia elderly persons.
Target Users
Target users of the scheme are those aged at 60 or above who are:
Patients diagnosed of having mild or moderate dementia and referred by Geriatric/Psycho-geriatric Teams of the Hospital Authority (HA); or
Members of the District Elderly Community Centres (DECC) suspected of suffering from early dementia.
HA/DECCs will assess the conditions of the patients/members and select suitable elderly persons to participate in the scheme. At the initial stage of the scheme, priority would be given to existing members of the DECCs who are also HA’s patients with mild dementia, as well as patients referred by HA.
Support Services
The core support services provided through the District Elderly Community Centres (DECC) under the scheme include:
Formulation of care plans for individual participants based on the core domains of dementia covering, cognition, functioning, behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, physical co-morbidities, psychosocial aspect and carers’ burden, to meet each participant’s specific needs.
Provision of healthcare, training and support services to the participants according to their individual care plans, with a view to enhancing/improving the cognitive functions of the elderly, knowledge on home safety, ability of self-care, physical functioning, social skills, etc. as well as to assisting individual participants to follow medication instructions.
Provision of training and support services to the carers such as stress management, knowledge of taking care of elderly persons with dementia, counselling services, formation of carer support groups, etc. with a view to alleviating carers’ burden.
Conduct of regular case conferences among representatives of the DECC concerned, the Social Welfare Department and the clinical teams of the Hospital Authority to review and monitor participants’ progress, as well as to recommend appropriate support services according to their latest conditions.
Fees
Participants who are recipients of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) or Old Age Living Allowance (OALA), or holders of medical fee waiver (not applicable to holders of one-off medical waiver) can receive free services under the pilot scheme. Participants who are neither recipients of CSSA or OALA, nor holders of medical fee waiver can pay a monthly fee of $150 to receive support services in that month under the scheme.
If healthcare professionals of the District Elderly Community Centres (DECC) who provide support services under the scheme have enrolled in the Elderly Health Care Voucher (EHCV) Scheme, the participants may consider using EHCVs at the DECCs concerned to pay the monthly fees. If the financial/family status of a participant has changed that he/she has become a recipient of CSSA or OALA, or a holder of medical fee waiver after he/she has participated in the pilot scheme, the participant can inform the DECC concerned to start waiving him/her the service fee under the scheme in the following month after the change of his/her financial/family status.
If DECCs consider that the elderly persons who are not CSSA or OALA recipients nor holders of medical fee waiver but for some reasons (e.g. lack of financial/family support) have difficulty in paying the monthly fees of the scheme, DECCs can recommend waiving the monthly fees for the elderly persons concerned to the Social Welfare Department (SWD). With due consideration to the financial factors, SWD will consider the recommendations on a case by case basis at its discretion.
Application
HA’s patients with mild or moderate dementia, as well as patients referred by HA
ECC members who are suspected to have mild cognitive impairment symptoms
Withdrawl
Service users or their guardian informed our centre by phone or by mail,Or under the below situation , Centre will inform HA for termination
