Aberdeen Jockey Club Clinic. In addition to services rendered to out- patients, this division also provided medical social services to tubercu- losis patients treated at such hospitals as the Kowloon, the Grantham, the Ruttonjee Sanatorium, the Wong Tai Sin Infirmary, the Haven of Hope Sanatorium and other medical institutions. In the special skin service. medical social workers maintained close liaison with the Hay Ling Chau Leprosarium. There were fewer difficulties in 1971 with such rehabilitation problems as the housing of leprosy patients. the employ- ment of cured persons, and their re-integration into the community.
147. In the mental health service, medical social work widened further in scope with the establishment of a medical social service in the newly-started psychiatric unit in Kowloon Hospital, with its com- plement of out-patient psychiatric clinic and an additional day hospital -the third in Hong Kong. Towards the end of the year, the Out- Patient Psychiatric Clinic of the Hong Kong University department of Psychiatry came into operation at the Hong Kong Psychiatric centre of the David Trench Rehabilitation Centre. This led to the start of the second psychiatric unit in a general hospital, the Queen Mary. The demand for psychiatric social work further increased, apart from the need to cope with an increased number of admissions and out-patient attendances in existing services.
148. As a result of the rapid expansion in the medical and health services, there was a larger intake of new recruits in the medical social service, and the in-service training and orientation programme was carried out on a larger scale than before with the appointment of a training officer. Interdisciplinary departmental training, much appreciated because of its teamwork implications, continued to be maintained. Requests also came from other hospitals' nursing schools such as the Tung Wah group of hospitals, from hospital administrators, welfare organizations, the Social Welfare Department's training section, and so on, for medical social workers' contributions towards their staff develop- ment programmes. Practical work placements in the department's hospitals, mainly the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mary, and the Kowloon hospitals, continued to be made available to the B. Soc. Sc. undergraduates of the two universities, and graduates undertaking the diploma of social studies course of the University of Hong Kong. In both respects, experienced and qualified medical social workers were designated as supervisors in the field training of social work students.
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PHYSIOTHERAPY (Table 67)
149. The physiotherapy units of government hospitals and clinics continued to report increasing numbers of patients and treatments carried out. The greatest number of patients in all units continued to be referred by the orthopaedic units, reflecting a continuing increase in the number of people in the community injured in industry, on the roads, and elsewhere. A great deal of time was spent in the treatment of surgical cases, including the intensive care unit at the Queen Mary, neurosurgical cases, at the Queen Elizabeth, and thoracic cases, at Kowloon Hospital, because they often required care urgently. Cases referred by paediatric and medical units, while not requiring care so urgently, also called for close attention and more continued care.
150. The opening of the West Wing of Kowloon Hospital necessitated the reorganization of this unit in an attempt to give convalescent patients, especially spinal cases, as full a programme as possible between treatment in the wards and the Rehabilitation centre. These long-stay patients needed much encouragement, and the sports activities arranged for them proved to be one of the best ways of increasing their strength and independence. Many of them became proficient at various wheelchair sports including basketball, table-tennis, archery, javelin and discus.
151.
The David Trench Rehabilitation Centre reached one full year of operation in 1971. While it obviously provides a necessary service for patients living in the western end of the island, it has not reached its capacity yet, and has not taken much pressure off Wan Chai Polyclinic. 152. The physiotherapy training school had a busy year. During the summer, two open days attracted a large number of visitors who were able to view the various projects students had prepared, and to see some practical demonstrations of their work. 44 students were under training at the end of the year. The number included 11 who were receiving training for work in non-government institutions.
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
(Table 68)
153. During the year, the occupational therapy unit became fully established with the appointment of two expatriate officers in August and September, followed a few months later by the return of two more scholarship graduates from the Melbourne and Sydney schools of occupational therapy.
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