ENG-2001 — Page 230

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HEALTH

and fax information about the School Dental Care Service and oral health. Apart from this, the domestic water supply is fluoridated to reduce dental decay.

Specialist oral health services are provided to hospital patients and those with special oral health needs. An emergency dental service is provided to the general public at 11 designated dental clinics.

Health Care for the Elderly

The provision of medical services for elderly patients is a priority area. Geriatric services are provided in all acute and extended care hospitals. Community geriatric assessment teams and psychogeriatric teams provide outreach specialist support to elderly persons living in subvented and private residential care homes as well as to their carers. During the year, 315 654 and 36 094 outreach services attendances were served by the community geriatric assessment teams and psychogeriatric teams, respectively. Public hospitals also provide 527 geriatric day places for elderly patients. The Department of Health provides Elderly Health Services through 18 elderly health centres and 18 visiting health teams to enhance primary health care for the elderly, improve their self-care ability, encourage healthy living and strengthen family support so as to minimise illness and disability. Elderly health centres provide integrated health service including health assessment, physical check up, counselling, curative treatment, and health education to people aged 65 and above. Visiting health teams reach into the community and residential care settings to conduct health promotion activities for the elderly and to provide training to carers to enhance their health knowledge and skills in caring for the elderly.

Services for the Mentally Ill and Mentally Handicapped

At the end of 2001, psychiatric hospitals provided 3 163 beds while public psychiatric units of general hospitals provided 1683 beds. The number of psychiatric day hospital places was increased to 679. Castle Peak Hospital, one of Hong Kong's two main psychiatric hospitals, is being redeveloped.

Community work and after-care units of psychiatric hospitals offer community psychiatric nursing service and domiciliary occupational therapy service to discharged patients. These services, which form an integral element of community psychiatric service, aim to provide continual care, treatment and rehabilitation programmes for discharged mental patients in their home settings. Not only can these services help patients' social readjustment, they can also educate patients and their families on mental health. Community psychiatric teams and psychogeriatric teams have been set up to provide designated care and rehabilitation programmes to psychiatric and psychogeriatric patients. During the year, 13 871 outreach services attendances were served by the community psychiatric teams. Other complementary rehabilitative services run by government departments and non-governmental organisations include day-centres, halfway houses, long-stay care homes, vocational training, selective placement and social clubs.

Severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and severe mood disorders, often start at teenage and in early adulthood. Early detection and treatment will result in better long-term treatment outcome and reduce long-term impairment to patients. Four early intervention teams have been set up in 2001 to assess persons aged under 25 and identify for early treatment those suffering from psychotic problems.