A clinic for diabetics at Queen Mary Hospital will strengthen a monitoring service to help patients comply with their drug regimes as a cost-saving measure. Introduced in 2004, the service enables patients to consult duty clinic pharmacists without having to wait for an appointment with a doctor. But starting in December, it will start calling patients to remind them to follow their recommended drug intakes. William Chui Chun-ming, chief of the Hospital Authority's pharmacy service for the Hong Kong West Cluster, said getting patients to take appropriate drugs on time reduced hospital stays and eased doctors' workloads. The authority estimated that the clinic, the first of its kind in Hong Kong, had saved about HK$100,000 for the authority each month. 'Efficient medical treatment helps patients to recover earlier and thus saves money for the Hospital Authority,' Mr Chui said. 'More resources can be put on patients. This is totally a win-win situation.' To increase the service's efficiency, 20 hospital pharmacists will help follow up with patients. Two to five pharmacists will be on duty to handle patients' questions. Walk-in patients can also enjoy the service. A walk-in consultation is free, but a follow-up service will cost HK$60. Clinical pharmacist So Yiu-wah said patients encountered all sorts of problems with their drug regimes, such as not taking drugs on time, mixing up medicines and failing to follow the dosage. Some even deliberately refused to take their medicine. 'They are afraid they will have to take more and more medicines their whole life. So we do psychological as well as medical consultations,' he said. The clinic handles an average of nine cases every day, with each patient requiring 45 minutes to an hour of assistance.