Coronavirus outbreak: Health education amid public health emergency 2020-02-21Novel coronavirus has been rapidly spreading. To prevent virus invasion, people need to access first-hand health information in a convenient way. Facing the fast changing epidemic, in addition to the efforts of the government, how can civilians effectively join the battle of fighting the epidemic?
A new partnership of PHC model for doctors and nurses to strive for success 2020-02-03The Government has planned to set up health centres in all 18 districts to promote the primary healthcare (PHC) services. In the coming future, the roles of family doctors and nurses are going to change. How can citizens benefit from the optimised PHC model with a new partnership of doctors and nurses?
Overcoming two obstacles to promote inter-disciplinary collaboration in primary healthcare 2020-01-20Inter-disciplinary collaboration can help promote community based primary healthcare (PHC) services. Apparently, it is challenging to have health professionals from different backgrounds to work seamlessly together. The Government has to overcome two obstacles to enhance the collaboration between multi-disciplinary PHC healthcare teams.
Introducing ‘time bank’ to set primary healthcare services on ground 2020-01-15To promote public health through primary healthcare services, it is essential to establish a comprehensive service network. It not only requires a close cooperation between the Government, medical professionals and non-governmental organisations, but also the intangible power of community. A ‘time bank’ can be set up by engaging people in the neighborhood to build a supportive network.
Establishing a new statutory body to enhance regulatory standard of primary healthcare 2020-01-10In recent years, the Government has vigorously promoted primary healthcare (PHC) services with the emphasis on cross-disciplinary and cross-group collaboration. However, PHC services which are provided by different healthcare professionals, can hardly be standardised. The Centre proposes to establish a statutory ‘PHC Authority’ which aims at upgrading the regulatory standard of local PHC services.
Hong Kong should get rid of the blind spots in healthcare services reviews 2020-01-06Healthcare institutions always pursue blindly numerical target of patients served in primary healthcare to the neglect of the importance of service quality, e.g. whether the patients have improved their conditions and their satisfaction with the services. Therefore, the society needs a comprehensive assessment framework to ensure both quality and quantity are taken into consideration. This analysis discusses how to effectively evaluate the quality and quantity of primary healthcare services.
Why healthy lifestyle is easier said than done in Hong Kong? 2019-12-23A majority of people is aware of the importance of balanced diet and regular exercise which are essential to staying healthy. Yet, many of them hardly turn the knowledge into action because of different reasons. Considering the advancement of public health, reviewing the Government's work on promoting ‘awareness and empowerment’ should be an important principle to evaluate the local primary healthcare services.
Digital health: Far beyond smart wristband 2019-12-16In recent years, many Hong Kong people wear smart wristbands to track exercise performance and monitor heartbeat in a bid to manage personal health. Digital health can indeed make a great contribution to primary healthcare service delivery, including diagnosis, treatment and monitoring infectious disease outbreaks, etc. To unleash the potential of digital health, the Government should play a key role.
Primary health care services in Hong Kong are slightly out of reach 2019-12-09Quality primary healthcare (PHC) services should be accessible so that patients can get the appropriate care when they need. The Centre examines the accessibility of local PHC services in terms of affordability of costs, timeliness of services and approachability of locations.
Three perspectives for evaluating manpower in primary healthcare system 2019-12-02Hong Kong’s healthcare system has overemphasised the treatment of diseases until the Government proactively develops primary healthcare (PHC) services to shift the focus to health promotion and disease prevention. To achieve this paradigm shift, there should be sufficient quality healthcare professionals to ensure efficacy of community-based services. This analysis uses the ‘quality assurance’ principle proposed by the Centre to review the manpower resources and supports of PHC services.