Mental Health
The government adopts a holistic approach in promoting mental health through a service delivery model that covers prevention, early identification, timely intervention and treatment, and rehabilitation.
As a major medical service provider for people with mental disorders in Hong Kong, the Hospital Authority offers a spectrum of psychiatric services including inpatient facilities, day hospitals, specialist outpatient clinics and community outreach. In 2014-15, more than 217,000 people with mental health problems received treatment and support through these services.
Psychiatric inpatient care is essential to facilitate symptom control, behavioural management and early recovery for patients experiencing acute psychiatric crisis. In 2014-15, the Hospital Authority maintained 3,607 psychiatric beds, with a bed occupancy rate of around 70 per cent, to care for some 14,600 patients.
To meet day-care needs, the Hospital Authority provided about 889 psychiatric day hospital places in 2014-15.
In line with an international trend to focus more on community and ambulatory care in the treatment of mental illness, the Hospital Authority also operates cluster-based community psychiatric services. In 2014-15, about 280,000 community psychiatric outreach attendances and about 95,000 psychogeriatric outreach attendances were recorded. The Hospital Authority also extended a case management programme for patients with severe mental illness to cover the whole city in 2014-15, serving some 17,000 patients living in the community.
Other Special Services
Specialist facilities under the department include 20 methadone clinics, 19 tuberculosis and chest clinics, seven social hygiene clinics, four dermatology clinics, two integrated treatment centres, four clinical genetic clinics, six child assessment centres and two travel health centres. These clinics and centres recorded about 6.2 million attendances in 2015.
Healthcare Services Provided by Private and Non-governmental Organisations
The private care sector complements the public sector by providing a range of specialist and hospital services. There are doctors of Western medicine, Chinese medicine practitioners, dentists, nurses, chiropractors, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, optometrists and other healthcare professionals.
NGOs operate community clinics offering primary care services. Many also organise health promotion, educational and other healthcare-related activities. Some NGOs provide health assessment services for the elderly and medical check-ups for women.
Secondary, Tertiary and Specialised Healthcare Services
These services are available mainly in the Hospital Authority's hospitals and specialist clinics. In 2014-15, it spent about $42.9 billion on specialist outpatient and inpatient services. At the end of 2015, there were 27,895 public hospital beds, comprising 21,587 general beds, 2,041 infirmary
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