Elderly who are too weak or unable to move around on their own without aid often require someone to accompany and take care of them when going out. Due to the long waiting time for government subsidized community care service, many private or self-financed organisations started to offer escort service to assist the elderly to the clinics for medical consultation or other venues. In a survey on 14 organisations/companies operating such elderly escort service, the Council has found all of them setting minimum service charge ranging from $111 to $470, a difference of over threefold. In addition to the basic service charge and the escort’s transport expenses during the service, the operators may also levy a host of surcharges and impose different restrictions on advance booking, alteration or cancellation of service. Each escort service could easily run up to a few hundred dollars, and may couple with the levy of many surcharges. It is therefore hard to budget for the actual final cost. The Council suggests consumers who contemplate the use of such service find out more details beforehand, and calls on operators to increase transparency on charges, cut down on the restrictions and enhance the overall flexibility of service to the elderly.
In May, the Council sent a survey questionnaire to 31 private or self-financed organisations/companies but only 16 responded; the remaining 15 either failed to reply or declined to provide the information, among them only 1 had on its website some information on its charges, indicating a general lack of information transparency in this sector that needs to be improved.
The collated data showed the hourly charge for a single service was between $62 and $160. 9 operators would charge according to whether the service falls within office or non-office hours; the latter is charged a higher scale varying from 13% to 50%. Further, all 14 operators set minimum service hours from 1.5 to 4 hours. In the case of the elderly having to wait for their turn for medical consultation at public hospitals which generally take up to 3 or 4 hours, the basic service charge (4 hours) alone would amount from $248 to $640. Consumers in need of elderly escort service over a long period are advised to estimate thoroughly the expenditures and affordability to ensure proper control in budgeting.
Aside from the basic service charge, the users have to bear the costs of transport back and forth of the escort during the service. 1 operator even stipulated taxi as the only mode of transport for the service. Some required the users to defray a transport allowance or surcharge for remote areas, from $30 to 1-hour service charge. Further, 2 others required users living outside of the MTR network to pay a $30 or $10 surcharge and additional traffic connection expenses.
There were also different restrictions applicable to advance booking. Except that 1 operator set no limit on advance booking, all the rest 13 operators required at least 1 day in advance, or even 2 weeks. And if the booking was made for the next day, 3 operators would require extra payments from the customers, adding $10 to $25 more to the hourly rate.
In respect of payment arrangements after successful booking, 6 operators required prepayment of the whole service sum. In the event of service cancellation, 4 operators stipulated that there would be no refund of prepaid service. As regards altering the service time or date, except for 2, all 12 remainders required notification of at least 2 hours or even 3 working days. If the notification is less than 24 hours, 3 operators would charge $50 to a service charge equivalent to 2 hours’; 1 operator would charge for service hours booked and another simply declined any refund.
On the issue of insurance, users should take note if the operators have bought insurance cover for the escort. 11 operators indicated that the escorts are under their employ and have bought employees’ compensation insurance cover for them while the remaining 3 indicated that their escorts are not their employees.
Furthermore, the Council also looked at the charges of service offering wheelchair transport. Among the 3 respondents, 2 set minimum spending or minimum service hours. Apart from transport expenses, 3 operators required the payment of surcharges for such as rush hour or district location. For the case where 1 electric wheelchair user accompanied by an escort travelling from Choi Hung Estate to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wanchai during the weekday morning, 3 operators would charge $240 to $960 as transport costs. The variation is considerable and therefore consumers should take this into account when choosing the service.
Consumers using elderly escort service should pay heed to the: following:
- Ascertain the recognized qualifications of the escort, including whether they have received any professional training and passed the requisite exam;
- As operators vary in their charges, try to understand clearly their charging method, the minimum service hours requirement, payment arrangements and other service terms and conditions, for instance, whether surcharge is applicable for last-minute alteration or cancellation of service;
- If the elderly is in need of any special care or attention of the escort, for instance the user is with dementia or handicapped, this should be clearly stated beforehand lest disputes arising from insufficient communication;
- Operators vary in their definition of remote areas, and requirement for the levy of charges or transport allowance, consumers should ask for detailed information on these beforehand.