Pursuing the practice of community psychiatry and adopting the multidisciplinary team approach in patient management, special emphasis is placed on the follow-up and after care of discharged mental patients during their integration back into the community. In the year the newly established Community Psychiatric Nursing Service was expanded on a regional basis to provide continuity in after-care treatment programmes to patients discharged from all mental institutions. Other complimentary rehabilitative supporting services including after care social service, placement service, half way houses, long-stay care homes, social clubs, etc. are organised by the various interested agencies and these services are closely monitored and co-ordinated by the Rehabilitation Development Co-ordinating Committee.
Severely mentally handicapped persons requiring intensive nursing care and medical treatment are cared for in Siu Lam Hospital with 200 beds and the Caritas Medical Centre with 300 beds. In order to meet the great demand in this area, a further 700 beds in this category have been planned for the next decade.
Physiotherapy Service
Physiotherapy Services are required for the treatment of patients in acute and convalescent hospitals, in maternity and obstetric wards in out-patient clinics and in the medical rehabilitation centres. They are actively involved in the rehabilitation of the physical and mentally handicapped in various institutes and centres.
In 1982, a total of 172,422 patients were treated and 1,313,413 attendance were recorded. With the heavy demand on the service and the anticipated rapid expansion of the service, the polytechnic was urged to increase its training capacity for physiotherapists from 40 to 60 per year. It is expected that the capacity will further be increased to 80 in 1983.
Occupational Therapy Service
Occupational therapy services are required in the treatment of people who are physically or mentally disabled. These people undergo planned activities designed to restore wholly or partly their bodily functions, enhancing their integration back into the community.
In 1982, 20,894 patients were treated with total attendances of 798,275 recorded.
Community Nursing Service
The Community Nursing Service extends continuing care to patients discharged from hospitals after suffering from acute illness and provides domiciliary medical care and support for the sick, the disabled and the elderly in their own homes.
The service was jointly operated by eight different agencies including the Medical and Health Department and is largely hospital based. Domiciliary services are delivered through a network of some 37 sub-centres covering the various districts including the New Territories. To monitor
the effectiveness of the service, a central consultative committee has been set up to evaluate the progress of the scheme and to ensure the uniformity of the service. During the year 1982/83, 13,097 patients were attended by the 182 community nurses and more than 202,300 home visits were made.
Pathology
VI Special Services
The Pathology Service provides clinical and public health laboratory services to Government hospitals and clinics and a consultant service for the Government-assisted sector. It also administers mortuaries and blood banks. In 1982 a total of 8.93 million examinations were undertaken by the services representing an increase of 35% over the previous year. 80,284 units of blood were received by the blood banks in the year.
The Institute of Immunology produces vaccine and other biological products for use in local health services. A total of 654,775 ml. of vaccines were produced locally last year. These were mainly bacterial vaccine (Cholera and Typhoid), rabies vaccine and poliomyelitis vaccine. The Virus Unit provides a central laboratory service for the diagnosis and surveillance of viral infections. It also provides invaluable services for the screening, assessment and guidance of vaccination programmes against viral infections for the community.
The Forensic Pathology Service with its fully established forensic laboratory, works closely with the Royal Hong Kong Police Force on the medical aspects of criminology and other medico-legal work, The work of the service includes investigations in respect of all homicides and coroner's cases. The professional staff dealt with a total of 4,569 post-mortem examinations, 996 clinical examinations and blood groupings, and 3,049 laboratory examinations in 1982.
Radiology and Oncology
The Institute of Radiology and Oncology comprises three main Divisions. The Radiodiagnostic Division provides diagnostic organ image services for Government institutes as well as a consultancy service to all Government-assisted hospitals and private medical institutions. 1,019,557 examinations were performed in 1982, an increase of 14% over last year's figure. To further upgrade the capability and quality of the diagnostic service, a new Computerized Axial. Tomography whole body scanner was installed in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital towards the end of the year and three additional machines are planned for installation in three other regional hospitals.
The Radiation Therapy Division with its modern facilities and equipment provides Comprehensive Radiotherapy programmes of the highest standard to those needing the service. It also offers a chemotherapy service and operates a Central Cancer Registry for Hong Kong.
The Radiation Physics Division is responsible for the maintenance and operation of the radioisotope laboratories, the mould laboratories, radiological workshop and the photographic section.
The Radiation Health Unit was set up in March 1982 to enhance the administrative work of the Radiation Board and the requirements of the Radiation Ordinance and Regulations. Professional staff of the unit undertake regular inspectional visits to medical, commercial and industrial. premises to monitor the working conditions of persons whose duties involve contact with radioactive materials. Radiation licences are issued to the proprietors in accordance with the Radiation Ordinance and Regulations. the year, over 1,000 licences have been issued. A personal radiation monitoring service is offered to over 2,000 radiation workers.
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