Department. Two main depots, one in Hong Kong Island and one in Kowloon, manufacture and distribute some 250 different types of pharmaceutical products to these institutions. In the two largest hospitals sterile preparation units supply all the hospital departments with their requirements of all intravenous fluids and with an extensive range of injections.
122. Central sterile supply departments are maintained at Queen Mary Hospital on Hong Kong Island and at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon. These are gradually being extended to include the sterile requirements of other hospitals.
MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK
123. The expansion of the medical services and the increasing emphasis or rehabilitation in its various aspects continued to make heavy demands on the services of medical social workers. In the Tuber- culosis Service, the development by Health Visitors of the work concerned with public health and preventive aspects of this disease has enabled the Medical Social Workers, working on a referral and selection basis, to concentrate more on the purely social work angles; more time can be spent by Medical Social Workers in hospitals, and the stationing of Medical Social Workers at the Grantham Hospital and at the Ruttonjce Sanatorium has proved successful.
124. Work at the Kowloon Jockey Club Rehabilitation Centre has remained at a high level. The backlog of handicapped children awaiting admission to school has created a problem, and a valuable service has been provided by the Heep Hong Club in which handicapped children are encouraged to participate in group recreational and educational activities.
125. Medical Social Workers in the hospitals have continued to work with patients and families throughout the period of hospitaliza- tion towards the ultimate goal of discharging them back into the community. Severe residual disabilities, particularly in such conditions as paraplegia and hemiplegia, pose serious problems.
126. In the Mental Health Service, the demand for fully-trained Psychiatric Social Workers and the scope of work at Castle Peak Hospital remained wide. Social Work is carried out on a referral basis and the follow-up discharged drug addicts from Castle Peak Hospital was continued.
34
127. In the Leprosy Service, methods of rehabilitation remains the same and co-operation with the Hay Ling Chau Leprosarium was maintained. The housing of leprosy patients and the employment of cured persons remained important problems. In the fields of venereal diseases and dermatology, long interviews with patients were needed to release tensions and uncover hidden anxieties which play an important part in some dermatological conditions. In other specialist sections such as ophthalmology, the Medical Social Workers worked on the referral system, and constantly pruned their activities in order to obtain the best possible results.
128. In staff training two Medical Social Workers left for overseas training during the year. In staff training locally, full use has been made of Extra-Mural Courses, several of which have been designed especially for social workers. Medical Social Workers continued to give lectures in the course of training of nurses, physiotherapists and medical students, and all possible assistance was given to the two universities in the training of social work students.
PHYSIOTHERAPY
(See table 62)
129. Demand for physiotherapy services continued to rise, and there was increasing concentration on education and training of the handi- capped in re-adapting themselves to day-to-day activities. The physio- therapy services were extended during the year under review to treating patients at the Sandy Bay Children's Orthopaedic Hospital and Con- valescent Home, leprosy patients attending at special leprosy clinics and a proportion of those patients attending the World Rehabilitation Fund Day Centre at Kwun Tong.
130. The physiotherapy training school had 23 students under training at the end of the year under review. During the year 11 students qualified. A 3-year course of training was approved for students at the school.
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
(See table 63)
131. Owing to the pressure on the acute hospitals and to the resulting short patient-stay, the main energies of the Occupational Therapy Service were concentrated on the hospitals for long-term patients. particularly the Castle Peak Hospital for psychiatric cases.
35