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Following is a question by Dr Hon Elizabeth Quat and a reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (November 20):
Question:
The Coroners' Report 2013 pointed out that last year, the number of suicides in Hong Kong was 1 040, a rise by more than 20% from the previous year. Among those persons who committed suicide last year, 644 of them were male, outnumbering the 396 women by 60%, and those of middle-aged (i.e. aged 30 to 59) men and elderly persons (i.e. persons aged 60 above) accounted for 28% and 36% respectively. Moreover, the suicide rate of teenagers (i.e. persons aged 19 or below) soared by 38% as compared with the figure in 2012. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has studied the reasons why the suicide rates of men and elderly persons were higher than those of other groups, and why the suicide rate of teenagers soared last year; if it has, of the details; if not, whether it will conduct relevant studies;
(2) whether it has analyzed if the phenomena of middle-aged men and elderly persons having higher suicide rates and the suicide rate of teenagers soaring reflect that the Government and the community have failed to provide sufficient support for the aforesaid groups; of the respective support services currently provided by the Government for these groups; and
(3) whether the Government will make reference to the statistics on suicides and outcome of analysis on the causes of suicides and consider providing more targeted support services for people of different age groups in need; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
My reply to Dr Hon Elizabeth Quat's question is as follows:
(1) Suicide is a complicated issue and is caused by multi-faceted factors including biological, social and psychological factors that interact with one another. Each case has its uniqueness. All along, the Government has been taking a multi-pronged approach in tackling the issue of suicide.
Studies indicate that elderly suicide cases are mostly attributable to physical illnesses and some of the elderly involved had suffered from depression. Moreover, according to the World Health Organization, the differences in the suicide death cases amongst men and women may be caused by potential factors including the varying methods of men and women in dealing with stress and conflicts, tendency for adopting and availability of different means of suicide, and difference in the rates in seeking assistance for mental disorders, etc. According to the Coroners' Reports of the past five years, the number of suicidal deaths involving persons aged 19 or below as determined by the Coroners remained at about 20-odd cases per year.
(2) For mainstream services, the 65 Integrated Family Service Centres, 22 Family Life Education Units and two Integrated Services Centres in the territory provide preventive, supportive and remedial services for people in need. Elderly persons, young persons or men can, according to their needs, receive family life education and counselling as well as participate in group activities with a view to tackling their life challenges with a positive attitude. In addition, social workers in the 55 Medical Social Services Units in hospitals and clinics throughout Hong Kong assess the suicidal risks of their clients during case assessment. Meanwhile, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) has been implementing the "one school social worker for each secondary school" scheme in the territory and subvents Integrated Children and Youth Services Centres and Outreaching Social Work Teams to provide students and young persons with support services. Besides, the 160 Elderly Centres in the territory provide a range of services for elderly persons, including visits, emotional support, counselling and referrals.
On specialised services, SWD subvents the Suicide Crisis Intervention Centre of the Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong to provide outreaching, crisis intervention, intensive counselling services, etc. to persons beset with suicidal problems.
In respect of hotline services, a total of six dedicated hotline services are run by SWD and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to help persons with suicidal tendency or in emotional distress. The hotline services encourage and refer the clients to receive in-depth counselling services corresponding to their needs.
As regards health services, the Psychiatric Department of the Hospital Authority (HA) has been providing comprehensive assessment, treatment and follow-up support services for patients with suicidal risks. These services are applicable to middle-aged men, elderly and young persons. Besides, the Elderly Suicide Prevention Programme (the Programme) of HA provides prompt psychiatric treatment for elderly persons who are suspected to have depression or suicidal tendency. SWD, welfare organisations or doctors can refer such elderly persons to the Programme for follow-up.
The Elderly Health Centres of the Department of Health (DH) adopts a multi-disciplinary team approach in providing health assessment and treatment services for elderly persons, and arranges clinical psychologists to provide psychological assessment and counselling for elderly persons suffering from depression. Established under DH's Elderly Health Service, the Visiting Health Teams in all 18 districts of Hong Kong provide mental health promotion programmes for elderly persons in collaboration with other elderly service providers in the district. Separately, the Student Health Service Centres of DH provide health assessment for secondary and primary students, including psychosocial health and behavioural questionnaire assessment. Students with emotional or behavioural problems or even suicidal tendency will be referred to HA, SWD or welfare organisations for follow-up.
(3) The Government has all along been concerned about the issue of suicide and encouraged tertiary institutions and NGOs to conduct studies as well as strengthen the collection and analysis of suicide data so as to facilitate the formulation of measures by the concerned authorities. In recent years, the Government has subsidised the Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of the University of Hong Kong (the Centre) to conduct research on suicide-related issues. The scope of the Centre's research covers people of different age groups and gender.
To further cater for the needs of young persons, SWD has commissioned three NGOs to launch their respective three-year pilot cyber youth outreaching projects since 2011. Young persons who are assessed to have suicidal tendency will be referred to receive follow-up or crisis intervention services. Approval has been given for the projects to be extended till July 2015. Moreover, SWD commissioned the Centre to implement a pilot project on community-based prevention of youth suicide in the North District in 2011. The project is expected to be completed in March 2015.
To sum up, the Government has been allocating resources continuously to suicide prevention, including improving existing services and developing professional counselling services.
Ends/Thursday, November 20, 2014
Issued at HKT 13:00
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