How big data can enhance health care for Hong Kong’s ageing population and chronic disease patients

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Patients at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei in February. As Hong Kong’s population ages and the number of chronic disease sufferers rises, cross-specialty care will become the watchword at the Hospital Authority. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 2:19pm, 7 May 2018Updated: 12:33pm, 15 Oct 2020

Hong Kong’s ageing population and the growing number of patients with chronic diseases are going to place much more demand on both the public and private health-care systems in the future – and this is not simply an issue of controlling costs or increasing resources.

While traditionally, health-care services have been focused on sick-care management, we need to review some of the current service delivery models to manage patients with longer-term or chronic diseases more effectively, taking a more patient-centred approach. We need more horizontal integration within and across disciplines and a new model for managing chronic diseases, moving from many concurrent specialties to a matrix of services that offers greater flexibility in addressing patients’ changing needs.

Integrated and cross-specialty care is going to be the watchword of the future in chronic disease management. This involves greater collaboration across specialties, collaboration with the social sector at the community level, more health education programmes for patients and carers, and extensive use of information technology.

One good example is the Risk Factor Assessment and Management Programme for enhancing chronic disease management. Patients with diabetes and hypertension at our primary-care clinics are systematically assessed and cared for by multidisciplinary teams of nurses and allied health professionals. This enables the risk of complications to be stratified, so we can provide targeted clinical interventions and empower them to care for themselves.