ENG-2003 — Page 209

HEALTH

activities for the elderly and to provide training to carers to enhance their health knowledge and skills in caring for the elderly.

Clinics

The Department of Health operates 20 methadone clinics, 19 tuberculosis and chest clinics, 10 social hygiene clinics, five dermatology clinics, three clinical genetic clinics, seven child assessment centres and other clinic services. About 10 million visits to clinics were recorded in 2003. During the year, 59 general out-patient clinics operated by the department were transferred to the Hospital Authority to enhance integration of primary and specialist care.

Apart from public service facilities, members of the community may seek medical treatment from the private sector, which includes medical practitioners working in private practices and 178 clinics registered under the Medical Clinics Ordinance.

Dental Health

Preventive services are delivered through the School Dental Care Service of the Department of Health which provides annual dental examination and basic dental care to about 436 000 children annually. A 24-hour interactive voice response system at the telephone hotline provides voice and fax information on the service and on oral health. The public can also visit the School Dental Care Service home page (http://www.schooldental.gov.hk) for updated information. The Department of Health monitors the level of fluoridation in the communal water supply in order to reduce dental decay among the population.

Specialist oral health care services are provided to hospital patients and those with special oral health needs. In addition, there are 11 designated dental clinics which provide emergency dental service to the public.

Hospital and Development Programmes

Demand for hospital services remained high in 2003. There were 739 000 discharges, 5 648 000 specialist out-patient attendances and 4 348 000 general out-patient attendances. Accident and emergency departments of major public hospitals had 1 816 000 attendances, or 4 962 per day.

The international trend has been to focus on the development of ambulatory and community care programmes. In line with this development, starting from 2001-02 the allocation of public funding for public hospital services has been changed from the facility-based approach to a population-based approach so as to encourage the mobilisation of resources from institutions to community settings. The new funding arrangement has facilitated the further development of the Hospital Authority's ambulatory and community outreach programmes.

In 2003, the Hospital Authority continued to step up training for family physicians, community paediatricians, community physicians, general practitioners and community allied health practitioners to support development of the community mode of health care delivery. It introduced a Visiting Medical Officer Scheme for residential care homes for the elderly to improve the quality of care and to reduce hospital admission for elders. It also rolled out a number of pilot schemes, such as the community allied health services schemes and the community drug compliance and counselling service, to enhance the level of care in the community setting. In order to strengthen its ambulatory services, the Hospital Authority is in the process of

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