Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ16: Hospital Authority psychiatric services
Following is a question by the Dr Hon Joseph Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (November 8):
Question:
It has been reported that the Hospital Authority (HA), in restructuring the
psychiatric services in its Clusters, has deployed from other Clusters 180
psychiatric beds for acute cases to the Kowloon Central Cluster. The occupancy
rate of psychiatric beds of the hospital concerned in that Cluster, however,
immediately reached 100% and temporary beds have to be added. In this
connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
(a) whether any additional resources have been deployed to the hospital
concerned to tie in with the arrangements to provide additional beds and
admission of acute cases; if so, the number of nursing staff and amount of
funding involved; if not, the reasons for that;
(b) the details of the plan to provide comprehensive and seamless psychiatric
services to the residents of the Kowloon Central Cluster (including the
deployment of staff and resources involved) and the expected effectiveness of
such services, given that HA has indicated that the increase in the number of
psychiatric beds in the Cluster was to facilitate the provision of such
services;
(c) the number of nursing staff, beds and in-patients in the existing
psychiatric observation units and psychiatric wards of all the Clusters in Hong
Kong; whether any particular hospital has experienced an excessive intake of
patients; if so, the details and how the situation is dealt with; and
(d) how HA evaluates whether the planned services would meet the demands of the
residents of the Clusters concerned when planning for the psychiatric services
of the Clusters, whether any consultation has been conducted on the planning of
the services, and how it ensures that adequate nursing staff and resources would
be deployed to deliver the services concerned?
Reply:
Madam President,
The Hospital Authority (HA) reorganised the psychiatric services in its hospital
clusters in mid 2006, which involved the transfer of some psychiatric hospital
beds in Hong Kong East and Kowloon West (involving 180 beds in total) to Kowloon
Hospital in Kowloon Central Hospital Cluster. The main purpose of the
reorganisation was to facilitate the opening of the Kowloon Psychiatric
Observation Unit in Kowloon Hospital. This Psychiatric Observation Unit now
provides service to psychiatric patients in central and eastern Kowloon, who are
to be admitted to a mental hospital for detention, custody or treatment under
the Mental Health Ordinance. During the initial period after operation
commenced, the Kowloon Psychiatric Observation Unit experienced some
overcrowding problems. However, the HA has already taken contingency measures in
October and started diverting some psychiatric patients to the Kwai Chung
Psychiatric Observation Unit and the Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Psychiatric
Observation Unit. The HA will continue to closely monitor the situation at the
Kowloon Psychiatric Observation Unit and take further contingency measures, if
necessary. Our response to the specific questions raised by Dr Hon Joseph Lee is
set out below.
(a & b) A total of 203 health care and other staff have been deployed to the
Kowloon Psychiatric Observation Unit. In 2006-07, the amount of resources
allocated to the Unit in dollar terms (including staff cost and other
operational expenditure) is around $74 million.
Prior to the reorganisation of HA's psychiatric services, there were no medical
facilities in Kowloon to serve patients who were required to be admitted to a
mental hospital under the Mental Health Ordinance. The HA had to divert such
patients from Kowloon to the Kwai Chung Psychiatric Observation Unit or the
Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Psychiatric Observation Unit. Through the
setting up of the Kowloon Psychiatric Observation Unit, the HA seeks to improve
the geographical coverage of psychiatric services offered by public hospitals,
and thereby reducing the need for patients to be admitted to hospitals in other
districts.
(c) The current numbers of psychiatric medical and nursing staff, psychiatric
beds, and psychiatric inpatients in various hospital clusters of the HA are set
out in the Table 1 & 2.
At present, excessive admissions are not common occurrences in the psychiatric
wards of public hospitals. If a certain ward is found to be overcrowded, the HA
will take appropriate diversion measures to alleviate the situation.
(d) In planning for the psychiatric services in its hospital clusters, the HA
would mainly consider the demographic changes as well as the availability of
community support facilities and services within their catchment areas, in order
to provide the public with appropriate services. When making adjustments in
provision of service, the HA would co-ordinate with all hospital clusters
concerned in the deployment of manpower and other resources to ensure the smooth
operation of various psychiatric services. All hospital clusters maintain close
liaison with District Councils within their catchment areas. For example, the
hospitals clusters would consult the views of the District Councils on their
service plan each year, provide Members with updates on the services provided by
the clusters and answer Members' questions.
Ends/Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Issued at HKT 13:05
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Attachment:
Table 1 & 2 to LCQ16