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moving towards a more sustainable health system but importantly, for facilitating a better, and more
dignified end-of-life journey for Hong Kong citizens.

Study Highlights (1)
Survey
A demonstrated need to enhance public education and advocacy on “end-of-life care” Questions

End-of-life care remains an ambiguous concept to most people in Hong Kong. According to the study,
55.1% of respondents regarded themselves as having limited, little, nil or uncertain confidence in Q1
managing EoLC and its associated arrangements. Respondents also had a vague understanding of EoLC
components. “Funeral assistance” proved to be the most understood component, to which 63.6% of Q2
respondents responded positively; the other most-acknowledged EoLC parts being psychological
counselling (58%) and social support (43.7%). While methodologies of EoLC have historically
accentuated an integrated approach which encompasses physical, psychological, social and spiritual
support. While most respondents proved to have some understanding of EoLC, most people in Hong
Kong do not appear to be familiar with the vast and holistic scope of the concept. Instead, study findings
point to a relatively disjointed understanding of EoLC and its individual components.

Findings also illustrate that sources of information on community EoLC services are scattered, where Q9
healthcare professionals in hospitals (32.2%) were found to be the most common channel of information
dissemination. More concentrated efforts should be placed on public education and advocacy so that
citizens will be able to understand the concept of EoLC and learn about related services in the
community in a less fragmented manner.

Study Highlights (2)

Current end-of-life care services in communities have room for improvement, particularly in
enhancing service comprehensiveness

At the time of study administration, only 23.4% of respondents were able to identify end-of-life care Q3
service provision points in the community; of which 30.9% had direct experience in using related Q4
services. The average service satisfaction score among users is a moderate 3.88 out of 6 where
enhancing service comprehensiveness (65.1%), increasing promotional intensity (48.2%) and Q5a
improving the performance of service providers (42.8%) were recognised by users as key elements that
would contribute to the betterment of existing community EoLC services in Hong Kong.

In contrast, a majority of respondents who had no prior experience in using EoLC services indicated Q5b
reasonable price levels (50.7%) and accessibility of services (45.9%) as major considerations for future
service acquisition. In comparison, service comprehensiveness becomes the most important
consideration for past users of EoLC services. Reiterating the crux of this report, there is a need to
review EoLC service provision at a system-level. Policies that lessen potential barriers on service

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