Service upgrade: Secretary for Labour & Welfare Matthew Cheung tours the 1823 Integrated Call Centre. Looking on is the Head of Efficiency Unit Kitty Choi.

The Social Welfare Department has upgraded its hotline system to enable social workers to focus on helping callers requiring assistance or intervention, Secretary for Labour & Welfare Matthew Cheung says.

The system's call flow was revamped in February with social-security enquiries channeled to the 1823 Integrated Call Centre, which will transfer calls in need of help through dedicated hotlines to the department's hotline service unit.

The move has allowed social workers to handle more readily calls requiring counselling and other welfare assistance, and provide more timely intervention service for individuals and families in crisis.

More callers now use the enquiry service provided by the integrated call centre. Voicemails left with the department's hotline service unit fell 26% compared with the monthly average in 2006-07.

"I am glad to see the upgraded hotline system has rolled out smoothly and that initial statistics have suggested that social workers of the department's hotline service unit are now able to focus more on helping callers requiring social workers' assistance or intervention," Mr Cheung said.

"No doubt, 1823 is providing much-needed, timely and effective relief for the department's hotline 2343 2255. It has also substantially enhanced our hotline service."

The upgrade is an initiative under the additional annual funding of about $40 million provided in the 2008/09 Budget to support domestic violence victims. Additional resources have been allocated to Caritas Family Crisis Support Centre to provide a back-up hotline service.