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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) extends the "Personalised Care Programme" (PCP) to the Eastern Districts, Wan Chai, Sham Shui Po, Sha Tin and Tuen Mun districts this year (2011/12) to enhance the support of severe mental illness patients towards their recovery and reintegration into the society. The Programme was first piloted in Yuen Long, Kwai Tsing and Kwun Tong districts last year.
The objectives of the PCP are:
I. To provide patient-centred community support to patients recovering from severe mental illness;
II. To identify relapse of patients for timely treatment;
III. To facilitate re-integration of patients into the community; and
IV. To establish district-based platforms for better co-ordination of services.
At a launching ceremony today (November 26), the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow addressed at the ceremony, "the HKSAR Government had provided extra resources to HA in year 2011-12 for the implementation of a range of services, including community rehabilitation through the PCP. Multi-disciplinary co-operation is essential for the provision of comprehensive treatment and follow-up services to patients with mental illness. As such, the HKSAR Government is committed to strengthening cross-sectoral collaboration between healthcare, social welfare sectors and other community partners, and enhancing community platform for patients' recovery."
HA Chief Executive, Dr Leung Pak-yin said at the ceremony, "patients residing in the community had various needs in their daily lives. Under the PCP, each patient would have a designated case manager to provide holistic support from hospital discharge to her reintegration into the community."
"A case manager will establish close relationship with a patient throughout the recovery journey and develop an individual care plan having regard to the patient's needs, which may include training on life skills and emotions control skills. In addition, the case manager will support and assist the patient's family. This may involve the provision of guidance on their communication with the patient and ways to manage the symptoms of the patient. In response to patient needs, the case manager will also work closely with various service providers, particularly the Integrated Community Centres for Mental Wellness (ICCMW) under the Social Welfare Department, to provide community services," continued by Dr Leung.
HA has conducted an evaluation on PCP and the preliminary result revealed that the programme has been widely recognised by the community including patients and their families. Timely support from the case managers is highly appreciated as it has helped improve patients' conditions, reduce hospitalisation and strengthen the relationship between the patients and their families. HA has recruited 80 case managers and serviced over 7,000 patients last year; to cope with the expansion of PCP this year, HA will recruit 100 more case managers to serve an additional 5,000 patients.
Ends/Saturday, November 26, 2011
Issued at HKT 16:13
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