Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang Wednesday said the government will adopt a novel multi-pronged approach to speed up the provision of subsidized residential care places for the elderly.

When delivering his annual policy address at the Legislative Council on Wednesday, Tsang said the city's ageing population will create greater demand for subsidized residential care places, in particular those with nursing care.

The new initiatives on subsidized residential provision include: increasing from 50 percent to 90 percent the proportion of nursing home places in existing subsidized contract residential care homes for the elderly; purchasing, for the first time, vacant places from self-financing nursing homes and care and attention homes; and making full use of the space in existing subsidized elderly homes to provide more places that offer continuous care.

The chief executive said these initiatives will substantially increase the number of subsidized residential care places that provide nursing or continuous care in the next five years.

Furthermore, in the next two years, the government will provide additional subsidized day care places in districts with a stronger service demand, and extend the District-based Scheme on Carer Training to give greater support to carers of the elderly at district and neighborhood levels.