Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ14: Psychiatric services
Following is a question by the Dr Hon Chiang Lai-wan and a written reply
by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative
Council today (November 20):
Question:
According to a report released by the World Health Organization in 2001,
approximately 25% of individuals across the world developed one or more
mental or behavioural disorders during their lifetime. It was projected
that depression would become the second leading disease in the world by
the year 2020. In recent years, there have been newspaper reports from
time to time on cases about people suffering from emotional problems
committing suicide or inflicting injuries on their family members.
Emotional problems have become more prevalent among the people of Hong
Kong. Statistics also show that one in every five people in Hong Kong
suffers from emotional problems to a certain extent, and there is a
rising demand for professionals who assist in solving emotional problems
in the community. In this connection, will the Government inform this
Council:
(a) whether it knows the numbers of patients (including new and old
cases) on the waiting lists of public psychiatric specialist out-patient
clinics and the waiting time, with a breakdown by District Council
district; if such information is unavailable, of the reasons for that;
(b) whether it knows the numbers of counsellors, psychologists and
psychiatrists currently practising in Hong Kong; if such information is
unavailable, of the reasons for that;
(c) whether it knows the information such as the numbers of places and
the duration of study, etc. about the counselling and psychology
programmes (including both first-degree and master degree programmes)
offered by various tertiary institutions at present, as well as the
statistics on graduates working in the relevant professions; if such
information is unavailable, of the reasons for that;
(d) of the channels and means for the registration of counsellors,
psychologists and psychiatrists in Hong Kong; if such information is
unavailable, of the reasons for that;
(e) whether it knows the names of the organisations currently providing
training for counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists which have yet
to be recognised by the Government, as well as the reasons for such
organisations not being recognised yet; if such information is
unavailable, of the reasons for that;
(f) whether the authorities will consider allocating additional funding
for developing counselling and psychology programmes (including both
first-degree and master degree programmes); if they will not, of the
reasons for that;
(g) whether the authorities will consider subsidising family doctors to
take diploma courses on psychiatry, so that they will be well qualified
with adequate professional knowledge for treating patients suffering
from mild emotional problems, with a view to reducing the number of
cases in which the patients have to wait for treatment at public
psychiatric specialist out-patient clinics; if they will not, of the
reasons for that; and
(h) whether the authorities will consider allocating additional
resources in future for enhancing the support services provided to
members of the public suffering from emotional problems; if they will
not, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(a), (g) and (h) In 2012/13, more than 195 000 persons with mental
health problems received treatment and support through the hospitals and
psychiatric specialist out-patient clinics (SOPCs) of the Hospital
Authority (HA). Among them, about 30 000 were first attendances. As at
March 31, 2013, there were 334 doctors (including psychiatrists), 2 073
nurses, 54 clinical psychologists, 189 occupational therapists and 243
medical social workers in the psychiatric departments of the HA
providing various in-patient, out-patient and outreach psychiatric
services. New cases received at SOPCs will be triaged into priority 1,
priority 2 and routine cases according to their severity and urgency.
The HA seeks to keep the median waiting time for first appointment at
SOPCs for priority 1 and priority 2 cases within two and eight weeks
respectively to ensure that more urgent and severe cases are followed up
promptly. This performance pledge has been fulfilled. In 2012-13, the
overall median waiting time for first appointment at SOPCs was seven
weeks. As the HA service statistics are maintained on a hospital cluster
basis, we do not have breakdown by District Council constituency areas.
To enhance support for patients with mild mental illness, the HA
launched the Integrated Mental Health Programme in 2010. In 2011-12, the
service was expanded to cover all hospital clusters, providing timely
support for patients in the primary care settings. Under the Programme,
diagnosis and treatment are provided at designated general out-patient
clinics in all seven clusters of the HA for patients with mild mental
illness in the primary care settings through multi-disciplinary team led
by family medicine specialists and general practitioners.
In addition, in order to enhance the support for patients with common
mental disorders such as emotional distress, anxiety disorder and
depression, the HA started to set up Common Mental Disorder Clinics at
psychiatric SOPCs in its seven clusters in 2010. These clinics help
strengthen the assessment and treatment services for patients with
common mental disorders.
To further promote mental health, the Food and Health Bureau (FHB) set
up a Review Committee on Mental Health in May this year. The Committee
is tasked to review existing mental health policies so as to map out the
future development of mental health services in Hong Kong. The FHB and
the HA will continue listening to views of different parties and working
closely with the relevant departments to improve and enhance psychiatric
services according to the needs of the community.
(b) and (d) Established under the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine
Ordinance (Cap. 419), the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine is responsible
for organising, monitoring, assessing and accrediting all medical
specialist training. There are 15 colleges under the Academy, including
the College of Psychiatrists. Any medical practitioner who wishes to
apply for fellowship must sit for and pass the examination conducted by
the Academy.
To become a psychiatrist, an applicant should first register as a
general practitioner under the Medical Registration Ordinance (Cap. 161)
and then apply to the Medical Council of Hong Kong (MCHK) for
registration of specialist qualification. An applicant may register as a
specialist if the MCHK is satisfied that he has been awarded a
Fellowship of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, or has been certified
by the Academy that he has achieved a professional standard comparable
to that recognised by the Academy for the award of its fellowship and
fulfilled the relevant statutory requirements. As at March 31, 2013,
there were a total of 280 psychiatrists listed in the Specialist
Register of the MCHK.
As there is no statutory registration system for counsellors and
psychologists, we do not have information about their registration and
practice.
(c) The number of student intakes and the total number of students
enrolled in psychology and counselling programmes (including funded and
self-financing undergraduate programmes and taught postgraduate
programmes) offered by the University Grants Committee (UGC)
institutions in the past three years (i.e. from 2010/11 to 2012/13
academic years) are set out in Annex 1. Statistics on the employment
situation of graduates from UGC-funded programmes from 2010 to 2012 are
set out in Annex 2. The Education Bureau does not have information on
the employment situation of graduates from the relevant self-financing
programmes.
(e) All local post-secondary programmes, including psychology and
counselling programmes, are required to undergo quality assurance before
they can be offered in Hong Kong. UGC-funded and self-financing
programmes offered by institutions with self-accrediting status are
subject to the internal quality assurance procedures stipulated by the
institutions concerned, whereas programmes offered by other institutions
are accredited by the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic
and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ). However, it should be noted
that neither successful self-accreditation nor accreditation by the
HKCAAVQ could be deemed as being equivalent to professionally
recognised.
(f) The UGC institutions normally conduct academic planning on a
triennial basis. Generally speaking, the UGC-funded sector enjoys a high
degree of autonomy. An institution can offer programmes on different
academic disciplines according to the needs of the community as well as
its own development direction. It may, after discussions among its
faculties, departments and colleges, propose expansion of and adjustment
to individual programmes. However, the Government will make specific
manpower requirement targets for a few disciplines such as medicine,
nursing, paramedical profession and teacher training because their
graduates are mainly employed by the public sector and the major
training body is the UGC-funded sector.
Since the UGC-funded undergraduate programmes in psychology are not
subject to a specific manpower requirement target, the UGC-funded sector
has the right to decide the number of places offered. However, specific
manpower requirement targets are set for the taught postgraduate
programmes in clinical psychology and educational psychology. In this
regard, the number of places for the taught postgraduate programmes in
clinical psychology increased from 12, 31, 12 in the respective years of
the 2009-12 triennium to 38, 19, 38 in the 2012-15 triennium. As regards
the taught postgraduate programmes in educational psychology, the number
of places was maintained at 15 and 25 in alternate years in the 2009-12
triennium and remains so in the 2012-15 triennium. The Government will
continue to assess and monitor the relevant demand with a view to
determining the number of places for the relevant programmes after the
2012-15 triennium.
Ends/Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Issued at HKT 17:57
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