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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Joseph Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (June 20):
Question:
At present, cases involving mental problems caused by drug abuse are referred to the psychiatric departments of public hospitals for follow-up treatment, and if the circumstances so require, the patients concerned will even be hospitalised. However, some healthcare personnel have pointed out that the conditions of drug abusers with mental problems are different from those of persons with common mental disorders, and the arrangement of putting these two types of patients in the same ward may affect the operation of the wards, and even pose danger to frontline staff. In recent years, the substantial increase in the number of drug abusers hospitalised for mental problems has aggravated the burden on psychiatric wards. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
(a) the number of drug abusers admitted to the psychiatric wards of public hospitals in the past three years due to mental problems caused by drug abuse, and the percentage of this number in the total number of patients admitted to the psychiatric wards, together with a breakdown by hospital;
(b) the average length of stay (number of days) of drug abusers admitted to psychiatric wards in the past three years due to mental problems caused by drug abuse;
(c) whether the Hospital Authority (HA) has increased the manpower in psychiatric wards in response to the increase in the number of cases of drug abusers being admitted to psychiatric wards due to mental problems caused by drug abuse; if it has, the details; if not, the reasons for that and whether it will consider increasing such manpower; and
(d) given that the conditions of drug abusers are different from those of persons with common mental disorders, and they call for different handling approaches, whether HA has considered handling these two types of patients separately so as to provide more targeted psychiatric treatment for them; if it has, the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
To tackle the youth drug problem (including drug abuse), the Government has worked closely with different sectors and adopted a multi-pronged strategy over the past few years, including increasing resources for drug treatment and rehabilitation services. With the concerted efforts made by the Government and different sectors of the community, there have been signs of improvements in the drug scene over the past few years. According to the Central Registry of Drug Abuse, the number of reported drug abusers dropped by 18% from 13 990 in 2009 to 11 469 in 2011. The decline among those aged under 21 was more pronounced, with a drop of 41% from 3 388 to 2 006 over the same period.
The number of drug abusers with mental problems receiving follow-up treatment at psychiatric departments of the Hospital Authority (HA) has increased in recent years. The increase is mainly due to the deployment of additional resources by HA to tackle the drug abuse problem. For example, an additional $12.5 million and $10 million were allocated in the financial years 2009-10 and 2010-11 respectively for the provision of more consultation sessions at Substance Abuse Clinics (SACs) to provide support for more patients.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(a) The total number of admissions to the psychiatric wards of public hospitals due to drug abuse (with a breakdown by cluster) and the percentage of these figures in the total number of admissions to the psychiatric wards in the past three years are shown in Annex 1.
(b) The average length of stay (number of days) of drug abusers admitted to psychiatric wards in the past three years due to mental health problems caused by drug abuse is as follows:
2009/10 2010/11 2011/12
Average length of stay 22.7 22.3 28.1
(number of days)
(c) HA has all along adopted a multi-disciplinary approach to follow-up on mental patients with multi-disciplinary teams comprising doctors, nurses and allied health professionals to provide appropriate services including in-patient and out-patient services, day training and community psychiatric service to patients (including patients with mental problems caused by drug abuse) having regard to the needs of the patients. In addition, SACs have also been established in the seven hospital clusters under HA to provide treatment for those referred by counselling centres for psychotropic substance abusers, voluntary agencies and other health care providers, as well as patients seeking service direct from them. Services provided by SACs include drug treatment, counselling and psychotherapy as required. As for the manpower required for in-patient psychiatric services, HA will make appropriate manpower deployment in the light of the overall demand for in-patient services. In 2012-13, an additional of 29 psychiatric nurses, 7 psychologists and 6 occupational therapists will be recruited by HA with a view to enhancing the in-patient psychiatric services of the clusters.
(d) The multi-disciplinary teams of HA's psychiatric departments will, on the basis of their professional judgment, arrange in-patients (including drug abusers) to receive appropriate treatment in the light of the clinical care needs of individual patients. Healthcare professionals will take into account the conditions of individual patients and consider making proper arrangements to segregate drug abusers from other in-patients in the ward when necessary, in order to provide more effective and targeted treatment.
Ends/Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Issued at HKT 15:34
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