XN000022-1996-11-13 — Page 40

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(d)

the number of schizophrenia patients receiving follow-up out-patient service, the number of attendance of these patients and the number of occasions when these patients fail to turn up at the appointment time?

The number of patient episodes of schizophrenia handled by public hospitals in 1993/94, 1994/95 and 1995/96 were 4,671, 4,797 and 5,294 respectively. Most of these patients are suffering from symptoms of a chronic nature which require hospitalisation or regular out-patient consultation. A review conducted in 1994 and 1995 indicated that about 25% of schizophrenic patients were re-admitted for treatment within a period of one year to 18 months after hospital discharge.

The Hospital Authority's computer information system is capable of capturing the total number of mental patients receiving out-patient consultation, but not a breakdown of patients by different types of illnesses. In terms of new cases, a total of 1,748, 2,155 and 2,571 new schizophrenic patients were registered with our psychiatric out-patient clinics in 1993/94, 1994/95 and 1995/96 respectively. The Authority is developing a new Psychiatric Clinical Information System to provide more specific data on the profile of patients. A pilot project of this new system will be implemented in Castle Peak Hospital and Kwai Chung Hospital in mid-December 1996 before consideration is being given to rolling it out to other hospitals.

Since no separate waiting list is kept for different types of mental illnesses, the average waiting time for first appointment at psychiatric out-patient clinics in respect of schizophrenic patients is not available. However, a triage system is in place to ensure that patients showing significant signs of behavioural disorder will receive immediate treatment.

All psychiatric out-patient clinics operated by the Hospital Authority have established systems to recall patients who failed to attend scheduled appointments. Based on a recent survey, about 10% of mental patients have failed to turn up for follow-up consultation. Contacts will be made through various means such as telephone, letter and home visits to ensure that the patients are being provided with appropriate medical attention.

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