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LCQ11: Rehabilitation services for injured employees
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     Following is a question by Dr Hon Leung Ka-lau and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (February 20):

Question:

     At the meeting of the Panel on Manpower of this Council held on May 23, 2012, some members expressed the concern that the rehabilitation service providers appointed by insurers might not be able to give an objective assessment on injured employees, as they might protect the interest of the insurers, and members therefore suggested that insurers should provide financial assistance to the Hospital Authority (HA) to strengthen HA's rehabilitation services for injured employees instead.  The Commissioner for Labour responded that "LD (the Labour Department) had secured the agreement of HA and the insurance industry to put on trial in December 2006 an arrangement whereby the Voluntary Rehabilitation Programme insurers could refer injured workers to receive medical and rehabilitation services at the three occupational medicine/care service clinics of Tuen Mun Hospital, Princess Margaret Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital" (the trial arrangement). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the specific length of the co-operation period under the trial arrangement, the target number of referrals, the number of injured employees receiving the services in each year since 2006, the specific details of the services (eg medical assessment and diagnosis, medical rehabilitation treatment, occupational rehabilitation service, case management and coordination for employees' return to work), the fees involved, and whether LD has interviewed the injured employees to understand their views on the services, etc;

(b) whether all injured employees may receive medical and rehabilitation services at the aforesaid three occupational medicine/care service clinics at present, without the need to wait for such services alongside other members of the public; and

(c) whether the Government will consider following the practice of overseas countries and collecting levies on the premium of employees' compensation insurance policies for setting up several occupational medicine/care service clinics to provide medical treatment, medical rehabilitation, occupational rehabilitation and rehabilitation case management services for injured employees, so as to help them receive proper treatment and return to work as soon as practicable?

Reply:

President,

     Similar to treatment of other patients suffering from injuries, public hospitals managed by the Hospital Authority (HA) at present provide a range of continuous services, involving accident and emergency, outpatient, inpatient and rehabilitation services, to employees suffering from work injuries. With a triage system in place for all the aforementioned services, patients are classified according to their level of severity and clinical conditions in order to ensure timely treatment with regard to their clinical conditions. Those in need will also be referred to receive further follow-up treatment, specialist diagnosis, inpatient service and rehabilitative care (including physiotherapy and occupational therapy).

     The Labour Department (LD), in collaboration with the insurance industry, launched the Voluntary Rehabilitation Programme (VRP) in 2003 to provide injured employees with an additional channel to receive free and timely medical and rehabilitation services in the private sector to facilitate their speedier recovery and early return to work. In order to enhance the rehabilitation services for injured employees and following discussion among LD, HA and the insurance industry, HA put on trial in December 2006 an arrangement whereby rehabilitation services would be provided to injured workers participating in VRP. HA briefed the participating insurers of VRP on the details of occupational medical services provided by HA at a seminar hosted by LD. Insurers could directly refer injured employees to receive services at designated clinics of HA providing occupational medical services at private fees and charges.

     My reply to the three parts of the question raised by Dr Hon Leung Ka-lau is set out below:

(a) According to HA, a few referral cases were received in 2006, but HA did not keep the statistics. At present, the participating insurers of VRP have not continued to refer cases to the designated clinics providing occupational medical services, and HA is not specifically providing any services under VRP.  As the participating insurers referred the injured employees to receive the rehabilitation services through direct contact with the designated clinics providing occupational medical services, LD also did not have the referral information.

(b) HA provides needy patients (including injured employees) with a series of inpatient, day patient, outpatient and community medical rehabilitation services through the multi-disciplinary teams consisting of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals. In general, medical professionals will provide patients, when their situation is stabilised, with necessary rehabilitation treatment and training according to their individual needs in order to help patients regain mobility and ability in self-care as early as possible.

(c) At present, public hospitals and clinics managed by HA, which are distributed throughout Hong Kong, offer all kinds of specialist services, including physiotherapy and occupational therapy so as to provide comprehensive medical and rehabilitative services to the public. No matter whether they are ordinary patients or injured employees, they can receive comprehensive and timely treatment and rehabilitation services.  HA will, from time to time, review and improve their services in order to facilitate speedier recovery and early return to work of the injured employees.  As such, the Administration has no plan to set up occupational medicine/care service clinics through levies from the premium of employees' compensation insurance policies.

Ends/Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Issued at HKT 11:25

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