384. The medical social work of the Almoner Service was greatly assisted by the ready co-operation afforded by the Family Welfare Society, The Church World Service, Caritas, the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Branch of the British Red Cross Society, the Lutheran World Service, the Salvation Army, the Hong Kong Cheshire Home, the Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation and the Po Leung Kuk. In addition, the Social Welfare Department and the Resettlement Department continued to give valuable co-operation in their respective spheres.
PHYSIOTHERAPY
385. The Physiotherapy Service was greatly expanded and modernized during the year by the opening of two large, new and well-equipped departments, one at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the other at the Jockey Club Kowloon Rehabilitation Centre. Each of these centres has a large gymnasium, extensive treatment areas and a hydrotherapy unit. These centres have replaced the facilities of the grossly-overcrowded department previously maintained in Kowloon Hospital.
386. A marked decrease in the number of cases suffering from the after-effects of poliomyelitis was noted during the year. This was in part due to the water shortage causing the cessation of all hydro-therapy; however, very few new cases of the disease were seen during the year, most probably as a result of the immunization campaigns.
387. Al the Queen Mary Hospital there was some slight decline in the work owing to decreased numbers of neurosurgical patients.
388. At the Lai Chi Kok Hospital there are large numbers of cases requiring physiotherapy amongst both the surgical and orthopaedic convalescent patients transferred from Kowloon Hospital. With the closure of Kowloon Hospital, more orthopaedic convalescent beds had to be made available and by March, 1964, there were 138 orthopaedic cases in the hospital. This placed a severe strain on the staff during the first quarter of 1964.
389. The training school, previously accommodated in temporary premises in the old Pathology Institute in Caine Lane, was transferred at the end of 1963 to the new and well-equipped school in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Until full functioning of the main department at the hospital has been attained, the practical work of the students is divided between the department and Kowloon Jockey Club Rehabilitation Centre.
82
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
390. The activities of this unit are the responsibility of the Superin- tendent Occupational Therapist and are mainly in those institutions which have large numbers of long-stay patients. The work is particularly valuable for psychiatric and drug-addiction patients.
391. The year under review saw considerable expansion of the Occupational Therapy Department with the openings of the Jockey Club Kowloon Rehabilitation Centre and of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital,
392. At Castle Peak Hospital some 600 patients attended each day the various occupational therapy groups; activities for women patients included craft-work, toy-making, sewing, pottery-modelling, painting and music classes, while carpentry, rattan work, tailoring and gardening were the main occupations for men patients. Considerable work was carried out on Government orders for brooms, brushes and mops. and a selected group of patients was employed on making wooden crates for a local brewery. Recreational activities, both indoor and outdoor, were organized on an increased scale during the year and included field games, concerts, film shows and other social activities.
393. In the Drug Addiction Treatment Centre at Castle Peak Hospital there was a particular need for occupational therapy activities. The patients, who are all male, undergo voluntary treatment for their addiction for a period of six months and are in an entirely different category to those suffering from mental disorders who are housed in the main blocks of the hospital. The payment incentive scheme was not successful and added to the remedial value of the work done; it was found that the response and behaviour of patients was enhanced by separation into small working groups of not more than six persons. Sewing and tailoring work was undertaken for the Central Linen Store of the Medical and Health Department. Other groups helped in ward cleaning and kitchen duties and a construction group was most useful both in concreting paths around the hospital and in the building of a pavilion in the grounds. A full range of recreational activities was maintained and relations between staff and patients were greatly improved in comparison with the early periods of this pilot voluntary treatment scheme. Numbers have been reduced, however, since the opening of the Shek Kwu Chau Centre.
394. At the Queen Mary Hospital, occupational therapy is less frequently prescribed as the great majority of inpatients are acute cases.
89