Names of convicted residential care homes for the elderly on or after December 15 will be made public through the Social Welfare Department homepage.

In response to recent discussions and concerns regarding the service quality of elderly homes, the department has stepped-up inspection, prosecution and has launched a series of measures to enhance the service quality and strengthen the monitoring system. After seeking advice from the Department of Justice and co-ordinating views from relevant parties, the department has also decided to make public the names of convicted elderly homes.

From December 15 onwards, elderly homes convicted under the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance and Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Regulation, their names, addresses, the offences and date of conviction will be uploaded onto the department's homepage for public viewing.

However, information about those 38 elderly homes previously convicted will not be made public as the offences were committed before the introduction of the new administrative arrangement. Since all violations against licensing requirements of those 38 elderly homes have been rectified while some have already been closed for business, the department considers it inappropriate to announce the past conviction records.

Operators and peoples-in-charge of all 700 or so elderly homes have been notified of the new arrangement.