Replies to LegCo questions

LEGCO QUESTION NO.12 (Written Reply)

Asked by:	Hon LAW Chi-kwong	Date of meeting :	21 April 1999
		Replied by :		Secretary for Health and Welfare

 

Question

 

Will the Government inform this Council of :

(a) the channels through which adolescents and children with psychiatric problems are referred to various psychiatric clinics for treatment at present;

(b) the number of such cases referred to each psychiatric clinic in the past year; and

(c) the current average waiting time in each psychiatric clinic before such patients receive their first diagnosis and treatment; whether there is a difference in the waiting time for the patients of various clinics; if so, the reasons for that?

 

Reply

 

Madam President,

(a) At present, children and adolescents with psychiatric problems are referred to the psychiatric specialist outpatient clinics of the Hospital Authority (HA) by :

(i) private medical practitioners;

(ii) HA doctors of other clinical specialties;

(iii) the Student Health Centre, the Child Assessment Centre and the general outpatient clinics of the Department of Health;

(iv) clinical psychologists of the Education Department; and

(v) clinical psychologists of the Social Welfare Department.

(c) HA provides specialist child and adolescent psychiatric outpatient services mainly through the Yaumatei Child Psychiatric Centre of the Yaumatei Specialist Clinic. Moreover, the psychiatric specialist outpatient clinics of the Tuen Mun Polyclinic, the Queen Mary Hospital and the Prince of Wales Hospital also provide the same kind of service. The total number of new cases referred to these clinics in 1998-99 are as follows :

	Total no. of new cases (Projected) (1998-99)
Yaumatei Child Psychiatric Centre Yaumatei Specialist Clinic	765
Psychiatric Specialist Outpatient Clinic Tuen Mun Polyclinic	312
Psychiatric Specialist Outpatient Clinic Queen Mary Hospital	281
Psychiatric Specialist Outpatient Clinic Prince of Wales Hospital	143

(b) The average waiting time for first appointment for child and adolescent psychiatric patients in 1998-99 is as follows :

	Average waiting time for new appointment (weeks)
Yaumatei Child Psychiatric Centre Yaumatei Specialist Clinic	4.7
Psychiatric Specialist Outpatient Clinic Tuen Mun Polyclinic	3.3
Psychiatric Specialist Outpatient Clinic Queen Mary Hospital	12.6
Psychiatric Specialist Outpatient Clinic Prince of Wales Hospital	21.4

The average waiting time for first appointment in these clinics varies. Since the psychiatric specialist outpatient clinics of the Queen Mary Hospital and the Prince of Wales Hospital also provide services for other psychiatric patients, there is fewer number of doctor consultation sessions for child and adolescent psychiatric patients and the average waiting time for new appointment is therefore longer. Besides, the average waiting time for new appointment is longer for those clinics with higher number of new case referrals or old case attendances. A triage system is already in place in these clinics, where urgent cases are accorded priority to ensure that patients in critical conditions can receive immediate or early treatment.