ENG-2011 — Page 212

172 Health

in the primary care settings. In 2011-12, this programme is being expanded to cover all clusters to tackle more effectively cases of mild mental illness in the community.

In 2001, the HA implemented a programme for the early assessment and detection of psychosis in young persons (EASY). This targets young people aged between 15 and 25 with first episodic psychosis. The specialised teams under the EASY programme offer one-stop, phase-specific and on-going support for these target patients for the first two years of illness.

In 2011-12 the HA is expanding the service target of the EASY programme to include adults and extending the duration of intensive care to the first three critical years of illness for further provision of ongoing support to these patients.

The psychogeriatric outreach service of HA provides consultation to elders in RCHES with varying degrees of mental health problems, such as dementia, depression and chronic psychosis. It also provides training and support to carers and staff of RCHES. In 2011-12, this service is being extended to about 80 more private RCHES to provide consultation to more patients in RCHES.

The HA attaches great importance to providing adequate support to children. suffering from autism and hyperactivity disorder to ensure that they receive appropriate care during their development. To this end, in 2011-12, the HA will expand the professional team comprising healthcare practitioners in various disciplines to provide early identification, assessment and treatment services for children suffering from these mental diseases. The team will also share their knowledge of the two diseases with the parents and caregivers to enhance their understanding of the condition and treatment needs of these children.

Other Special Services

The DH operates a range of specialist clinics and centres for the public. They include 20 methadone clinics, 19 tuberculosis and chest clinics, seven social hygiene clinics, four dermatology clinics, two integrated treatment centres, four clinical genetic clinics, six child assessment centres, and two travel health centres. About seven million visits to these clinics were recorded in 2011.

Healthcare Services Provided by Private and Non-governmental Organisations

The private healthcare sector is the main provider of primary care, and complements the public sector by providing a range of specialist and hospital services. Currently, through private hospitals and Western medical practitioners' offices and clinics in the private sector, the public are provided with various choices of health care, including individual aspects of care such as choice of doctors and preference of amenities. Apart from doctors of Western medicine, other healthcare professionals (including Chinese medicine practitioners, dentists, nurses, chiropractors, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, optometrists, etc.) also provide health care in the private sector. In general, private healthcare services are not subsidised (except for certain institutional or day-time long-term medical and nursing care) and patients have to bear the full-cost for using them.