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Escort services for medical treatment
Following is a question by Dr the Hon Huang Chen-ya and a written reply by the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Mrs Katherine Fok, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
Does the Government know:
(a)
(b)
(c)
of the number of elderly or disabled singletons who attended the outpatient departments of public hospitals and the out-patient clinics of the Department of Health, and the number of these out-patients who called for ambulance services or requested escort services in order to attend the out-patient departments or clinics, in the past year;
whether there are any statistical data to show the number of these two types of persons who are unable to attend the out-patient departments or clinics due to the lack of escort services in the past year; and
of the types of escort services for medical treatment which are now available, and the plans in hand to improve such services?
Reply:
The following type of escort services are available for people attending clinics of the Department of Health or specialist clinics of public hospitals:
(i)
Non-emergency ambulance transport service
People attending clinics of public hospitals can request non-emergency ambulance transport service which is run by the Hospital Authority. Those attending clinics of the Department of Health can request similar service which is run by the Auxiliary Medical Service in the Kowloon Region and the Fire Services Department in Hong Kong Island and the New Territories. Such service is provided to patients on the basis of medical conditions/needs. Requests for service have to be made through medical professionals, allied health staff or social workers who have to authorize the requests on ground of health need. The service is introduced to persons in need mainly through clinic staff. The Auxiliary Medical Service also introduces its service through radio broadcasting and distribution of pamphlets.