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Home nursing · Registered nurses and care workers

Home nursing services

With an ageing population and waits of a year or more for residential care places, ageing at home is now the reality for most Hong Kong families. Our team of Hong Kong registered nurses visits at home, from clinical care such as wounds, tubes and injections to personal care such as bathing, feeding and companionship. We direct each case to the most suitable service and explain what a nurse and a care worker are each responsible for.

  • Hong Kong registered nurse team
  • Home visits across Hong Kong
  • Nurse $920 per hour · Care worker from $243
  • Nurse-led clinical care

Why more families need home nursing

Hong Kong’s population is ageing rapidly. According to Census and Statistics Department projections, the share of the population aged 65 or above will rise from 20.5% in 2021 (about 1.45 million people) to 36% in 2046 (about 2.74 million people), when more than one in three people in Hong Kong will be an older person. Older people are also the main users of the healthcare system. The Primary Healthcare Blueprint notes that people aged 65 or above make up only about 18% of the population, but in 2019 they accounted for about half of all hospital bed-days and emergency admissions.

Subsidised residential care places are also in serious short supply. At the end of 2023, the average waiting time for a nursing home place was about 9 months for a general applicant, and about 11 months for a care and attention home place. (By the official definition, the “average waiting time” is the number of months waited by those who were actually allocated a place in the past three months, and does not cover everyone who is still waiting.) According to figures the government provided to the Legislative Council, 6,611 older people died while waiting for a subsidised place in 2017/18, about half as many again as the 4,372 in 2008/09. With long waits for residential places and many older people living with several conditions at once, ageing at home with home nursing has become the practical choice for many families.

36%
Share of the population aged 65 or above in 2046
The share of older people will rise from 20.5% (1.45 million) in 2021 to 36% (2.74 million) in 2046. By then, more than one in three people in Hong Kong will be an older person. (Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong Population Projections 2022–2046)
About half
Older people’s share of hospital bed-days and emergency admissions
People aged 65 or above make up only about 18% of the population, but in 2019 they accounted for about half of hospital bed-days and emergency department admissions. (Primary Healthcare Blueprint)
31%
Share of the population with a chronic condition
In 2020/21, about 31% of Hong Kong’s population (about 2.2 million people) had a chronic condition, and 47% of them were older people aged 65 or above. (Primary Healthcare Blueprint)
9–11 months
Average waiting time for a subsidised residential care place
As of December 2023, the average wait was about 9 months for a nursing home place and about 11 months for a care and attention home place. (Legislative Council written reply, 2024-01-31)

How the roles of nurses and care workers differ

To choose the right service, it helps to understand the difference between the two roles. A registered nurse provides “clinical care”, which carries medical risk and needs professional judgement. A care worker provides “personal care” in daily life. The two roles complement each other and cannot replace each other. The ideal arrangement is for a nurse to assess and draw up the care plan, and for a care worker to carry out daily care according to the plan.

Registered nurse (clinical care)Nurses hold a practising certificate from the Nursing Council of Hong Kong. They treat wounds and remove stitches, look after tubes such as stomas, nasogastric tubes and urinary catheters, give injections (such as insulin) and take blood. They also assess vital signs, monitor health, draw up care plans and teach family members how to give care. These procedures carry medical risk and should be done only by a nurse.
Care worker (personal care)Care workers look after daily personal needs, including helping with bathing, going to the toilet, changing diapers, feeding, lifting and transfers, accompanying the patient to appointments, and helping with rehabilitation exercises. The related certificate course takes about 50 to 100 hours and mainly trains body care and lifting skills.
Health worker (between the two)Health workers complete a course of about 300 hours, and their scope of work sits between that of nurses and care workers. They can handle simple wounds, feed through a nasogastric tube, measure vital signs and give insulin injections.

Clinical research on nurse-led home care

Several international studies show that transitional or home care led by registered nurses reduces readmissions and emergency department visits, and also improves a number of specific care measures:

Fewer readmissions and emergency visits

  • A landmark RCT (Naylor 1999) found that nurse-led transitional care after discharge reduced the rate of patients with “at least one readmission” from 37% to 20%.
  • An analysis of 16 RCTs (2025) found that when follow-up lasted longer than 12 weeks, patients’ risk of readmission (RR 0.67) and of emergency department visits (RR 0.63) both fell.
  • In heart failure, nurse-led transitional care reduced the risk of heart-failure-related readmission by about 29% (RR 0.71).

Better specific care measures

  • Nurse-led urinary catheter management protocols help to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI).
  • Turning the patient every 2–3 hours helps to reduce the rate of pressure sores from 13% to 8%.
  • However, the certainty of the evidence on pressure sores and catheter infection is low, so the results should be read as “helps to reduce” and not as an absolute guarantee.

In short, nurses provide medical care such as treating wounds, managing tubes, giving injections and carrying out assessments. Care workers provide daily personal care such as bathing, feeding, companionship and helping with activities. The ideal arrangement is for a nurse to assess and set the care plan first, and for a care worker to look after the patient each day according to the plan.

Choose a service by need

Home nursing services (registered nurses)

Frequently asked questions

Why do more and more Hong Kong families need home nursing?
The key factor is rapid population ageing. The Census and Statistics Department projects that the share of the population aged 65 or above will rise from 20.5% in 2021 to 36% in 2046, which means more than one in three people in Hong Kong will be an older person. At the same time, subsidised residential care places are seriously short. At the end of 2023, the average waiting time was about 9 months for a nursing home place and about 11 months for a care and attention home place. Figures that the government provided to the Legislative Council also show that 6,611 older people died in 2017/18 while waiting for a subsidised place, and the number has risen for several years in a row. With such long waits for residential places, ageing at home with home nursing has become the practical choice for most families.
What is the difference between a registered nurse and a care worker, and how should I choose?
Registered nurses mainly provide “clinical care” that carries medical risk. This includes wound care and removal of stitches, care of nasogastric tubes, stomas and urinary catheters, medication injection, blood taking, assessment of vital signs and drawing up care plans. Care workers provide “personal care”, such as bathing, toileting, changing diapers, feeding, lifting and transfers, and accompanying the patient to appointments. In short, anything that involves dressing wounds, managing tubes, injections or care assessment must be done by a nurse, and daily personal care is followed up by a care worker. The ideal arrangement is for a nurse to assess and draw up the plan first, and for a care worker to carry out daily care according to the plan, so that the two roles complement each other. A “health worker” sits between the two and can handle work such as simple wound care, nasogastric tube feeding and measuring vital signs.
How effective is a nurse visit after hospital discharge?
There is international clinical evidence for this. A landmark randomised controlled trial (Naylor 1999) found that nurse-led transitional care after discharge reduced the rate of “at least one readmission” from 37% in the control group to 20%. A 2025 analysis of 16 randomised controlled trials also found that when follow-up lasted longer than 12 weeks, nurse-led transitional care significantly reduced readmission (RR 0.67) and emergency department visits (RR 0.63). This shows that nurse visits can help to reduce the chance of a patient being admitted to hospital again after discharge.
What clinical nursing can be provided at home?
Common services provided when a registered nurse visits include wound care and removal of stitches, care and replacement of nasogastric tubes, stomas and urinary catheters, medication injection (for example insulin), blood taking, measuring and monitoring vital signs such as blood pressure, blood sugar and blood oxygen, and teaching care knowledge to family members. Research shows that skilled nursing procedures can improve health outcomes. For example, nurse-led urinary catheter management protocols help to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI).
An older person has several chronic conditions. How does home nursing help?
About 31% of Hong Kong’s population (about 2.2 million people) has a chronic condition, and 47% of them are older people aged 65 or above. Having several conditions at once is common in older people. Home nursing can provide continuing medication review, wound or tube care and monitoring of vital signs. In heart failure, for example, nurse-led transitional care reduces the risk of heart-failure-related readmission by about 29%. For older people who have difficulty moving or have several illnesses, regular home nursing helps to keep their condition stable and saves them from travelling.
What care matters most for an older person who is bedridden for a long time?
The key is preventing pressure sores (bedsores). Research shows that turning the patient more often (every 2 to 3 hours compared with every 4 to 6 hours) helps to reduce the rate of pressure sores from 13% to 8%. Regular turning, skin checks and positioning are usually carried out by a care worker following the plan set by a nurse, and a nurse regularly assesses the wound and skin condition. This shows how the nurse (assessing and planning) and the care worker (daily execution) work together.

Disclaimer: This article is general health information and is not professional medical advice. If you have any health concerns, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.

References

  1. Census and Statistics Department (2023). Hong Kong Population Projections 2022–2046, press release (the share of the population aged 65 or above rises from 20.5% in 2021 to 36% in 2046). info.gov.hk
  2. Health Bureau, Primary Healthcare Blueprint. Healthcare challenges in Hong Kong (older people account for about half of hospital and emergency admissions, and 31% of the population has a chronic condition). Page in Chinese. primaryhealthcare.gov.hk
  3. Legislative Council written reply (Labour and Welfare Bureau, 2024-01-31) (the average waiting time for subsidised residential care places was about 9 to 11 months as of December 2023). info.gov.hk
  4. Legislative Council Question 20: statistics on residential care homes for the elderly (2018-07-04) (the number of deaths while waiting for subsidised residential care places, 2008/09 to 2017/18). info.gov.hk
  5. Legislative Council Question 20: residential care homes for the elderly (2021-03-17) (historical waiting times and the number of people on the Central Waiting List). info.gov.hk
  6. Hospital Authority, Community Nursing Service (community nursing, where registered nurses visit at home to provide wound and tube care). Page in Chinese. ha.org.hk
  7. Naylor, M. D., Brooten, D., Campbell, R., et al. (1999). Comprehensive discharge planning and home follow-up of hospitalized elders: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA, 281(7), 613–620. PubMed
  8. Sakashita, C., Endo, E., Ota, E., & Oku, H. (2025). Effectiveness of nurse-led transitional care interventions for adult patients discharged from acute care hospitals: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Nursing, 24, 379. PubMed
  9. Li, M., Li, Y., Meng, Q., et al. (2021). Effects of nurse-led transitional care interventions for patients with heart failure on healthcare utilization: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PLoS ONE, 16(12), e0261300. DOI
  10. Avsar, P., Moore, Z., Patton, D., O'Connor, T., Budri, A. M., & Nugent, L. (2020). Repositioning for preventing pressure ulcers: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Wound Care, 29(9), 496–508. PubMed
  11. Durant, D. J. (2017). Nurse-driven protocols and the prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infections: a systematic review. American Journal of Infection Control, 45(12), 1331–1341. PubMed