Hong Kong carers need more healthcare support as survey finds more than half suffer from strain injuries, advocacy group says

Hongkonger Moon Li, a 53-year-old single mother, has had to endure intense back pain for seven years after she was hit by a box of goods while working as a saleswoman.

In 2016, her doctor recommended major surgery that would have involved a 10-day hospital stay and six months of bed rest, but Li could not go ahead with the operation because she had to take care of her four-year-old son, who was diagnosed with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Li’s husband died of cancer a year before her accident.

“All I could do was take painkillers, go to physiotherapy, and take Chinese medicine on my own … it is expensive, and not quite helpful too, but who would take care of my son if I was in hospital?” Li said.

The back pain, along with the stress of caring for her son, prevented Li from working and resulted in severe insomnia and anxiety.

With her son now 11, Li hopes to undergo the recommended surgery to end the pain and get back on her feet again, but doctors have told her she needs to wait three years for the procedure at a public hospital.

The news has left Li, who relies on HK$6,000 (US$767) a month in government help, in despair.

A support network for carers on Saturday urged the government to enhance healthcare for those tending to the needs of people with disabilities, the elderly, children and patients with chronic diseases or mental health issues.

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Support should include offering healthcare vouchers to carers and providing medical check-ups at district health centres, according to Care for Carers, an advocacy group with more than 20 social service providers.

The appeal for more help came after the group surveyed 530 carers over the past month, and found more than half had suffered physical injuries due to care duties. Back and shoulder pain were the most common symptoms.

More than 80 per cent experienced feelings of anxiety stemming from the stress of their caregiving duties, but only a quarter sought help from healthcare professionals.

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“Many choose to ignore the stress, they think they are just tired or sick, and will feel better after some rest … round-the-clock caregiving duties prevent many from taking care of their mental health,” said Alvin Chung Sai-cheong, an investigator at the group in charge of the survey.

“But most do not receive any support from family or the community.”

The group urged the government to step up healthcare support for carers, who “often sacrificed their own health due to caregiving duties”.

It called on authorities to set up a HK$2,500 healthcare voucher scheme so that carers could use it for primary services in the private sector to spare them from waiting at public hospitals.

The current healthcare voucher scheme, introduced in 2009, offers HK$2,000 to those aged 65 or above for primary healthcare covering 14 different types of services in the private sector, ranging from general practitioners to dentists.

The advocacy group also called on the government to provide primary healthcare services for carers at district health centres across the city, including health check-ups, counselling, physiotherapy sessions and more.

“The needs of each case can be very complicated, ranging from managing family relations to mental health,” said Kyle Si Sze-ming, a group representative.

“The outreach teams dedicated to finding hidden cases in the community should also include social workers and healthcare professionals, so they can conduct screenings immediately to identify those in need of help.”

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said in his policy address on Wednesday that community care teams would be asked to go door-to-door to identify elderly people struggling to look after themselves and overstretched carers, and refer those in need to relevant welfare authorities.

The government will also ask 350 care facilities, including 20 for those with disabilities and 330 for the elderly, to provide services whenever they have vacancies so carers can take short breaks.

But Si said other types of carers also needed attention, including those overseeing children, like Moon Li, and people with mental health or chronic illnesses.

“People may not be aware of them but their stress is no less than those caring for the elderly or disabled,” Si said.

“We hope the government will adopt a more holistic approach and also consider the needs of these carers.”