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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Kwok Ka-ki and a reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (October 18):
Question:
Some medical practitioners have relayed to me that the Government has not conducted any comprehensive review on its mental health policy for many years, the resources for psychiatric services in public hospitals are insufficient, services for ex-mental patients are inadequate, and training courses for family doctors on treatment of mental illnesses are not enough. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it has conducted any review on its mental health policy; if it has, of the time and results of such review; and whether it has any plan for a comprehensive review of such policy in the future; if it has, of the specific timetable;
(b) of the following in the past three years: the ratio of psychiatric beds and health care personnel to patients in public hospitals; the respective funding for various services relating to mental health policy, including medical services, community-based rehabilitation services and the provision of training on mental illnesses to family doctors in the community; and
(c) of the specific plan on and the resources to be committed to improving the above services which are related to mental health policy and promoting mental health for the whole community?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Government is committed to promoting mental health. We have implemented a series of initiatives in this regard, starting from preventive measures like public education to promote the importance of mental health and ways of early identification and intervention, to providing avenues for seeking help and appropriate support, counselling and medical services. In parallel, we are also providing a series of rehabilitation services for ex-mentally ill persons, to facilitate their re-integration into the community by helping them re-acquire living skills, communication skills and work ability. In response to changes in the environment and social needs, we keep our policies and initiatives under review to ensure that while we can promptly respond to the needs of society, we are also adhering to the principle of sustainability. In the middle of this year, our Bureau has set up a working group on mental health services, which commenced in August this year a review of the current mental health services with a view to mapping the development of future services. I chair the working group myself, and its members include professionals of psychiatric and rehabilitation services and academia.
(b) As for the treatment of mental illness, the international trend is shifting the focus from in-patient care to community and day services. In the light of this trend, the Hospital Authority (HA) has been reviewing its in-patient psychiatric services continuingly over the past few years. They have also stepped up efforts in developing more comprehensive community treatment methods through their community psychiatric service, community psychiatric nursing service and psycho-geriatric service, to progressively allow more suitable psychiatric patients to receive treatment in the community, thereby enhance their prospect of re-integration into the community after recovery. Efforts have been made in recent years to achieve a more even distribution of psychiatric beds amongst hospital clusters, so as to reduce the need for cross districts admittance. Moreover, the HA has implemented a number of programmes over the past few years, which include the Early Assessment Service for Young People with Psychosis (EASY) Programme to identify young patients suffering from psychotic problems for early treatment; the Extended-care Patients Intensive Treatment, Early Diversion & Rehabilitation Stepping-stone (EXITERS) Project to facilitate the re-integration of patients receiving extended care into the community; and the wider use of new psychiatric drugs. At the same time, the provision of community residential facilities (e.g. half-way houses and long-stay care homes) allows some psychiatric patients who no longer require in-patient care to make an early return to the community. The above measures have made it possible for the HA to reduce the number of psychiatric beds in public hospitals, releasing valuable resources for the treatment and care of more patients.
The ratios of psychiatric health care personnel and psychiatric beds to the number of in-patients for the past three years are set out in Table 1.
The resources allocated to services related to mental health in the past three years amounted to $3.25 billion in 2003-04, $3.18 billion in 2004-05 and $3.13 billion in 2005-06 respectively. A breakdown of these figures by medical services and community-based rehabilitation services is provided in Table 2.
(c) Regarding future mental health services, apart from continued promotion of public education, as pointed out by the Chief Executive in his Policy Address last week, the key to more effective handling of complicated social issues, including mental health problems, is to build up a family-focused support network, and to reinforce harmonious and loving family relationships. In this regard, we are all set to implement a new community psychiatric health outreach service. Through home visits and organising promotional activities in the community, this service seeks to identify early persons with psychological problems, and to enable them to receive appropriate counselling and services to avoid exacerbation of their problems. Through community support networks, it will also seek to help them rebuild positive values and reinforce harmonious family relationships.
On concrete plan and resource allocation for the future, we will carefully consider the recommendations made by the recently established working group on mental health services following its review of current services and detailed deliberation. We will consult relevant parties, including the Legislative Council, at the appropriate juncture.
In parallel, I would also like to take the opportunity to point out that the promotion of mental health really depends on the participation of all sectors, and the mutual support among members of the community and families. Therefore, apart from injecting finance resources, we will also actively mobilise social resources to enhance the support for, and to strengthen families, to foster a sense of responsibility in each family member, to nurture care and love, and to develop a relationship of mutual support. This will both enhance our community's understanding and concern about mental health, in order to prevent and handle psychological problems at an early stage, and promote early integration of ex-mentally ill persons into the community.
Thank you.
Ends/Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Issued at HKT 13:24
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