ENG-2012 — Page 187

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Health

The Haemodialysis Public-Private Partnership Programme provides private haemodialysis services to eligible patients with end-stage renal disease currently under the HA's care. A total of 108 haemodialysis places will be provided under the programme in 2013-14.

In May 2012, the Pilot Project on Enhancing Radiological Investigation Services through Collaboration with the Private Sector was launched, fully subsidising patients from selected cancer groups for Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) services at private healthcare service providers. By the end of 2012, five private healthcare service providers had participated in the project involving 1,040 attendances with 2,324 investigations completed.

The Elderly Health Care Voucher Pilot Scheme gives healthcare vouchers to those aged 70 or above to subsidise their use of private primary healthcare services within their neighbourhood community. Up to the end of 2012, 3,627 healthcare service providers and 470,000 elders (or 66 per cent of eligible elderly people) had joined this scheme and about $348.2 million paid in subsidies.

Developing Electronic Health Record (eHR) Sharing

The Government's Public-Private-Interface Electronic Patient Record Sharing Pilot Project, launched in 2006, aims to enhance continuity of care for patients by enabling participating private healthcare providers and other registered institutions to view the HA's records, subject to patients' consent. By the end of 2012, more than 273,300 patients, 2,769 private doctors and healthcare providers, 11 private hospitals and 73 other private organisations or NGOs providing healthcare-related services (including their 411 residential care homes or centres) had participated in the project.

Building on the experience and success of the Pilot Project, the Government is implementing a 10-year programme to develop a territory-wide, patient-oriented, voluntary eHR Sharing System. In 2012, the FHB's Electronic Health Record Office completed public consultation on the legal, privacy and security framework for eHR sharing and started preparing for drafting the necessary legislation. It also commissioned the first phase of Privacy Impact Assessment to address concerns about personal data privacy. The first phase of the eHR Sharing System is planned to come into operation in 2014.

Health Promotion

Healthy Lifestyle

The DH's Central Health Education Unit formulates and implements health promotion strategies. The unit runs various promotional campaigns and programmes to provide the public with information and advice on a range of health-related topics. In 2012, the unit extended its health promotion work at the pre-school and workforce settings via '[email protected]' campaign and '[email protected]' project respectively.

In the 2011-12 school year, over 440 (about 70 per cent) primary schools (including special schools) participated in the '[email protected]' campaign and about 600 restaurants took part in the '[email protected]' campaign.

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