Letters | Why do Hong Kong’s elderly prefer public hospitals, even with vouchers for private health care?
- Former health secretary’s criticisms of the government voucher system don’t reflect the realities of elderly care
Professor Yeoh pointed out that vouchers have not achieved the objective of reducing the elderly’s use of public hospital services. While supporting a limit on their use, he has identified the real need of the elderly for the vouchers for improved health care, not as a barrier to the care offered by hospitals.
Little effort has been made to understand why the elderly and their carers choose to take the long route to hospitals. Many of the elderly attending hospitals come from care homes and elderly day care centres. Has any attention been given to the role of the Department of Health in supporting these homes in handling the health needs of the elderly and also in assisting the elderly where they live?
Why do the elderly and their carers travel long distances to public hospitals? Could it be that the route to treatment is shorter and their needs can be met there, unlike in private doctors’ clinics, which have no beds for waiting patients, no backup from other medical facilities, a narrow range of medicine, limited knowledge of geriatric conditions and a lack of nursing presence in their clinics? Nurses in these clinics could help in assuring the elderly and their carers that hospital care is unnecessary in non-emergency situations and in giving advice.
