Review of home care for mental patients

When he heard the tragic news about a mental patient chopping two people to death in Kwai Shing East estate last month, Frank Leung was fearful - not for himself, but for his neighbours. 'I worry that one day in the future I will also be a violent attacker,' the 30-year-old schizophrenia patient said.

Leung - and his neighbours - aren't the only ones concerned about the treatment of mentally ill patients; the Hospital Authority has now, for the first time, set down a five-year plan for public mental health services, including setting up a 24-hour helpline to offer immediate advice to mental patients who fear their condition is deteriorating or they may turn violent.

The plan estimates that half of the 40,000 schizophrenic patients in the city will be managed 'exclusively' in the community - in other words, where they live - over the next few years. But psychiatrists and a patients' group want an even higher-level government policy covering all relevant services for the city's mentally ill, who may number 200,000.

To help these patients integrate into the community after leaving hospital care, the authority wants to develop 'innovative' housing. The preliminary idea is to let mentally ill patients live in small clusters in public housing estates for easier follow-up by community nurses or social workers.

But Leung worries that mental patients will have their privacy violated if neighbours see social workers knock on their doors.

'I don't think many ordinary people know enough about mental illnesses. They may call for help every time they see people acting strangely,' he said.