Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ19: Medical consultation through video conferencing
Following is a question by the Hon Tsang Yok-sing and a written reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today
(May 28):
Question:
It has been reported that at present, public hospitals in the Hong Kong West,
Kowloon West, New Territories East and New Territories West Clusters are using
video conferencing systems to provide medical consultation service and nursing
advice for the elderly in residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs).
Regarding this scheme, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(a) it knows the current numbers of public hospitals, RCHEs and elderly centres
taking part in the aforesaid scheme;
(b) the Government and the Hospital Authority have plans to
(i) encourage and assist more hospital clusters, public hospitals, RCHEs and
elderly centres to take part in the scheme; if so, of the details; if not, the
reasons for that;
(ii) extend the scheme to elders living alone; if so, of the details; if not,
the reasons for that; and
(iii) extend the above scheme to residential homes operated by the Social
Welfare Department and non-governmental welfare organisations; if so, of the
details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) At present, five hospitals in the four clusters of the Hospital Authority
(HA) are using video conferencing systems to provide medical consultation
service for the elderly of 18 residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs). HA
started to provide medical consultation service through video conferencing on a
limited basis in 1998, primarily because outreaching service for the elderly was
still at its early stage of development with limited coverage at that time.
Provision of medical consultation service through video conferencing is, to a
certain extent, a convenient way to offer simple diagnosis and advice to the
elderly and health care personnel in RCHEs. However, this diagnosis method
mainly serves to provide a video communication channel to help the doctors to
communicate with nurses in RCHEs and to comprehend patients' conditions; this
does not involve other diagnoses and transmission of patients' pathological
information.
(b)
(i) & (ii) The use of video conferencing systems for medical consultation is
promoted in some overseas countries because their medical facilities are often
far away from patients' homes and medical services are not readily accessible.
Given the small size of Hong Kong and its convenient transportation network, the
public can get easy access to medical facilities near their homes to receive
necessary medical treatment.
HA has made active efforts to develop its community and ambulatory services in
the past decade. Through regular visits arranged by the Community Geriatric
Assessment Teams (CGAT) and Community Psychogeriatric Teams, the Visiting
Medical Officers are able to closely observe the clinical conditions of the
elderly patients in RCHEs and provide them with immediate treatment,
prescription and medical referral, etc. In addition, a range of visiting
services have been provided through community nurses, community psychiatric
nurses and community allied health professionals so as to give appropriate and
timely support to elderly patients and ensure that they get continued care and
treatment in the community. We consider that such service arrangements better
suit the needs of the elderly. As such, we have no plan to develop video
conferencing systems to provide nursing advice and consultation service to the
elderly. Besides, the provision of medical consultation service through video
conferencing is subject to a number of constraints, such as the need to sort out
issues in relation to equipment installation, routine maintenance, repair, etc.
It is therefore not appropriate to extend the video conferencing systems to
elders (including singleton elderly) at their own residents at this stage.
(iii) HA does not have any plan to extend the video conferencing services to the
residential homes operated by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) and the
non-governmental welfare organisations at the moment. At present, medical
consultation services are provided to residents in these residential homes
through various channels. For example, the CGAT, the Visiting Medical Officer/CGAT
Collaborative Scheme and the Visiting Medical Practitioner Scheme of HA provide
outreach medical consultation services to residents in RCHEs; and the Visiting
Medical Practitioner Scheme provides such services to residents of subvented
Residential Care Homes for Persons with Disabilities.
Ends/Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Issued at HKT 12:40
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