XN000022-1975-01-26 — Page 1

+

H K 香港政府 GIS 新聞處

DAILY INFORMATION BULLETIN

MEDICAL SOCIAL WORKERS KEPT DUSY IN 1978

THE MEDICAL AND HEALTH DEPARTMENT'S MEDICAL SOCIAL WORKERS ATTENDED TO 38,171 CASES IN THE YEAR ENDING ON DECEMBER 31, 1974.

OF THESE, 10,696 PATIENTS WERE SEEN AT THE QUEEN ELIZABETH HOSPITAL, AND 6,959 AT THE QUEEN MARY HOSPITAL, OTHERS WERE ATTENDED TO AT THE TANG SHIU KIN HOSPITAL, AND OTHER DEPARTMENTAL INSTITUTIONS.

HEADING THE DEPARTMENT'S MEDICAL SOCIAL SERVICE IS MISS PEGGY CHAN, PRINCIPAL MEDICAL SOCIAL WORKER. SHE IS ASSISTED BY A STAFF OF ABOUT 100 AT PRESENT, SEVEN OF WHOM WERE RECRUITED LAST YEAR.

THE SERVICE IS INTENDED TO COMPLEMENT HOSPITAL AND CLINICAL WORK BY PROVIDING ASSISTANCE TO PATIENTS WHO, ON ENTRY INTO OR DISCHARGE FROM GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS OR CLINICS, HAVE PERSONAL OR SOCIAL PROBLEMS WHICH COULD HAVE AN EFFECT ON THEIR UNDERSTANDING AND ACCEPTANCE OF THEIR ILLNESS OR DISABILITY, THEIR USE OF THE MEDICAL CARE OFFERED, OR THEIR SPEEDY AND SUCCESSFUL RECOVERY,

FORMERLY, MEDICAL SOCIAL WORKERS WERE KNOW AS ALMONERS. THIS TERM CEASED TO BE USED IN 1965 BECAUSE IT WAS FELT THAT MEDICAL SOCIAL WORKERS IS A MORE APPROPRIATE DESCRIPTION OF THEIR ROLE IN THE HOSPITAL OR CLINIC SITUATION.

→THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MEDICAL SOCIAL WORKER IN SUPPLEMENTARY MEDICAL THERAPY IS UNIVERSALLY RECOGNISED, MISS CHAN SAYS. *IN HONG KONG, THE SERVICE OF MEDICAL SOCIAL WORKERS IS GROWING BECAUSE OF THE EXPANSION OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES, AND THE INCREASING EMPHASIS BEING PLACED ON MEDICAL AND SOCIAL REHABILITATION.

+MEDICAL SOCIAL WORKERS ARE PART OF A MEDICAL AND HEALTH TEAM, AND THEIR MAIN CONCERN RELATES TO THE SOCIAL, EMOTIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INVOLVED IN ILLNESSES AND DISABILITIES.

+THEIR MAIN CONTRIBUTION IS TO HELP PATIENTS MAKE THE BEST USE OF MEDICAL CARE, AND TO ASSIST THE PATIENT AND HIS FAMILY WITH THE PROBLEMS THAT ARISE FROM AN ILLNESS.

·

/MEDICAL SOCIAL WORKERS

Issued by Government Information Services, Beaconsfield House, Hong Kong. Tel: 5-233191

PRH 7