Nearly a year has passed since Hong Kong launched the first phase of its carer support data platform last July, linking the Social Welfare Department, Hospital Authority and the Housing Authority into a single alert system for “high-risk carers”.These include those receiving a living allowance as low-income carers of the elderly, carers of the disabled and carers of those who live in public housing estates. To date, the platform has flagged over 3,100 cases through hospital alerts. Care teams can now more easily locate and reach carers in need – by the end of April, they had contacted or visited more than 35,000 high-risk households under the scheme and made over 2,900 welfare service referrals.The question is whether this architecture is sufficient. Regrettably, it falls short.Even as the platform expands to cover carers in Hong Kong Housing Society public rental estates and “three-nil” buildings – those lacking an owners’ corporation, a residents’ organisation and property management – it remains blind to a vast population of carers who neither receive a carer allowance nor live in public housing. Many of these people do not see themselves as carers. Others stay silent for fear of being labelled or judged.With an estimated 2.75 million carers, according to the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute’s 2024 figures, no amount of home visits will ever close the identification gap. We need additional entry points and the workplace is one that has been largely overlooked.09:34Memory: the thin line connecting dementia patients and their familiesMore than half of Hong Kong’s carers are thought to be in paid employment. Yet the weight they carry is rarely visible or understood by the public. A survey last year by Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service found that nearly one in six took on 21-40 hours of caregiving each week, with one in 10 spending over 40 hours a week caregiving on top of their full-time job. That is, in effect, two full-time jobs.