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Following is a question by the Hon Li Kwok-ying and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (May 30):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) in each of the past three years, of the number of children who received the Child Assessment Service provided by the Government, and among them, the number of those who were assessed as having development disorder, broken down by their developmental problems;
(b) of the average waiting time for new registrations at the Child Assessment Centres, the Centres' staff establishment, and the number of children they can assess each year; and
(c) given that referral by a registered doctor or psychologist is required for receiving assessment services at the above Centres, of the current mechanism to assist parents in understanding childhood developmental problems, so that they can make early arrangements for their children with such needs to receive appropriate assessment and rehabilitation services, and whether the Government will provide initial assessment services in this respect at the Maternal and Child Health Centres for children below the age of 12?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) In the past three years, the numbers of new cases diagnosed by the Child Assessment Service and the Student Health Service of the Department of Health (DH) by types of developmental problems are shown in Annex 1(Note).
The Child Assessment Centre of the Duchess of Kent Children's Hospital under the Hospital Authority (HA) also provides assessment service. In addition, therapeutic and rehabilitative services are provided. While a breakdown of the numbers of its new cases in the past three years is not readily available, the Centre is able to furnish the total number of cases it is currently handling as shown in Annex 2.
(b) At present, the Child Assessment Service of the DH can provide assessment and other related services for 16 000 children each year on average. The number of new cases in each of the past three years is over 6 000 on average.
In respect of waiting time for new cases, the Child Assessment Service of DH pledges that appointment for new cases will be provided within three weeks, and assessment of each new case will be completed within six months. It has been able to fulfill the performance pledge in over 90% of its new cases. The Child Assessment Service of DH is staffed by 86 medical and health personnel. As for the Student Health Service, the assessment programme is staffed by five clinical psychologists, and the waiting time for assessment ranges from 16 weeks to seven months. In the past three years, the Student Health Service assessed 1 300 school children each year on average.
In addition, 10 staff members of the Child Assessment Centre of HA are responsible for conducting assessment of children. (Some of the staff have to handle other clinical work). The Centre handles about 3 600 attendances relating to new cases each year. Triage measures are adopted in the Centre according to the needs of the cases. The shortest waiting time for new cases is less than two weeks, and the average waiting time is six months.
(c) At present, the public can have access to the preliminary assessment provided by Maternal and Child Health Centres (MCHCs) and the Student Health Service without referrals. Children identified with health problems will be referred to the Child Assessment Service or specialist clinics for thorough assessments and follow-ups. To raise public awareness of the special needs of children with developmental problems, a wide array of public education programmes are organised under the DH's Child Assessment Service, including publishing articles in newspapers, participation in related media productions, organising talks for parents, pre-primary institutions and related community and rehabilitation institutions, as well as production and distribution of publications related to childhood developmental problems. The DH's Family Health Service has provided pre-school teachers of individual districts with training in phases on pre-school children's developmental problems. Assistance has also been made available to the pre-school teachers in timely identification of children with developmental and behavioural problems. A systematic referral mechanism is in place through which children with such problems can be referred to the MCHCs for preliminary assessment.
On assessment, the Family Health Service under the DH provides an Integrated Child Health and Development Programme for babies and young children from birth to the age of 5 in its MCHCs across the territory. The Developmental Surveillance Scheme under the programme offers parents a wide range of information about children's development. Such information help parents acquire a clear picture of their children's development at various stages and the circumstances which require parents' special attention, and enable them to monitor the growth and development of their children in collaboration with the medical staff more effectively. Besides, interviews with the parents and children will be arranged by the MCHCs in the six specific ages of the children, i.e. at 2, 4, 6, 12 and 18 months and 4 years of age. Their children's development in various areas, such as their gross and fine motor, language and communication, social behaviour and play, self-care, vision and hearing, is monitored. A more comprehensive preliminary developmental assessment will also be conducted on a need basis, or the case will be referred to the Child Assessment Service of DH or other specialists for further follow-ups as appropriate.
In addition, arrangements will be made each year for student participants of DH's Student Health Service to receive a series of health services in the student health service centres. These include physical examination, health screening, individual counselling and health education.
Note: A child may be diagnosed as suffering from more than one developmental problem.
Ends/Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Issued at HKT 14:37
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