TNAG-1606-FCO40-22121-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 204

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3.

In addition, 11 recommendations requiring changes

in the law have been incorporated in a Bill to amend the

Mental Health Ordinance (Cap. 136) I expect that this Bill

will be introduced into this Council within the current

session, subject to the agreement of the

Governor-in-Council.

4.

Only two of the recommendations have not been

accepted. The first of these was that the establishment of

a psychiatric emergency squad, to provide on-the-spot help

for mental patients and their families in emergency

situations, should be examined. The conclusion was that

this would not be a very appropriate way of dealing with

such situations, particularly when the patient was violent;

nor would it be possible to provide territory-wide coverage

with the limited staff resources available. The second

recommendation that was not accepted was that a full-time

psychiatrist should be provided for the Siu Lam Psychiatric

Centre; in this case it was considered that the existing

arrangement of two visiting psychiatrists would

appropriate, particularly when the proposed consultant post

with overall responsibility for forensic psychiatry has been

established.

be more