Parental responses to health care services for children with chronic                 conditions and their families: a comparison between Hong Kong and Scotland

A survey of 3,355 Hong Kong adolescent students showed that the prevalence of TCM clinic consultation in a three-month period was 8.6%. Among students who sought doctor consultation in a three-month period, 17.8% consulted a TCM doctor. Students who sought doctor consultation for fall-related injuries were more likely to have consulted TCM doctors only, while those for skin disease were more likely to have consulted both TCM and western doctors. Perceived cost, efficacy, trust of western doctors and socioeconomic factors were not associated with choice of doctor type.Our findings are different from those on Hong Kong adults' use of health care services as reported in other studies.

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Lessons Learned From Hurricane Maria: Pharmacists’ Perspective

Annals of Pharmacotherapy ◽

10.1177/1060028017751691 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 52 (5) ◽

pp. 493-494 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Kyle Melin ◽

Wanda T. Maldonado ◽

Angel López-Candales

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Puerto Rico ◽

Patient Care ◽

Natural Disaster ◽

Chronic Conditions ◽

Health Care Services ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Community Pharmacies ◽

Care Services ◽

Demand For Health

The destruction in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria brought an increased demand for health care services while severely limiting the health care system’s ability to provide patient care. Immediately following the hurricane, countless patients found themselves in a situation without their medications for both acute and chronic conditions. Many of these patients turned first to community pharmacies for access to their medications. In this letter, we describe the response of pharmacists to the needs of their communities following the natural disaster, Hurricane Maria, and summarize some lessons learned from the experience that may be useful in future disaster planning.

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Older adults with non-communicable chronic conditions and their health care access amid COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh: Findings from a cross-sectional study

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0255534 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (7) ◽

pp. e0255534

Author(s):

Sabuj Kanti Mistry ◽

A. R. M. Mehrab Ali ◽

Uday Narayan Yadav ◽

Saruna Ghimire ◽

Md. Belal Hossain ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Health Care ◽

Health Services ◽

Medical Care ◽

Chronic Conditions ◽

Health Care Services ◽

Care Delivery ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Care Services ◽

Routine Medical Care

Background Burgeoning burden of non-communicable disease among older adults is one of the emerging public health problems. In the COVID-19 pandemic, health services in low- and middle-income countries, including Bangladesh, have been disrupted. This may have posed challenges for older adults with non-communicable chronic conditions in accessing essential health care services in the current pandemic. The present study aimed at exploring the challenges experienced by older Bangladeshi adults with non-communicable chronic conditions in receiving regular health care services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods The study followed a cross-sectional design and was conducted among 1032 Bangladeshi older adults aged 60 years and above during October 2020 through telephone interviews. Self-reported information on nine non-communicable chronic conditions (osteoarthritis, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, chronic kidney disease, cancer) was collected. Participants were asked if they faced any difficulties in accessing medicine and receiving routine medical care for their medical conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The association between non-communicable chronic conditions and accessing medication and health care was analysed using binary logic regression model. Results Most of the participants aged 60–69 years (77.8%), male (65.5%), married (81.4%), had no formal schooling (58.3%) and resided in rural areas (73.9%). Although more than half of the participants (58.9%) reported having a single condition, nearly one-quarter (22.9%) had multimorbidity. About a quarter of the participants reported difficulties accessing medicine (23%) and receiving routine medical care (27%) during the pandemic, and this was significantly higher among those suffering from multimorbidity. In the adjusted analyses, participants with at least one condition (AOR: 1.95, 95% CI: 1.33–2.85) and with multimorbidity (AOR: 4.75, 95% CI: 3.17–7.10) had a higher likelihood of experiencing difficulties accessing medicine. Similarly, participants with at least one condition (AOR: 3.08, 95% CI: 2.11–4.89) and with multimorbidity (AOR: 6.34, 95% CI: 4.03–9.05) were significantly more likely to face difficulties receiving routine medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions Our study found that a sizeable proportion of the older adults had difficulties in accessing medicine and receiving routine medical care during the pandemic. The study findings highlight the need to develop an appropriate health care delivery pathway and strategies to maintain essential health services during any emergencies and beyond. We also argue the need to prioritise the health of older adults with non-communicable chronic conditions in the centre of any emergency response plan and policies of Bangladesh.

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Improvement of Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme in Hong Kong

Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management ◽

10.24083/apjhm.v15i2.387 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. S18-22

Author(s):

Cheryl C.W Ho ◽

Tommy K.C Ng

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Hong Kong ◽

Health Care Services ◽

The Elderly ◽

Private Health Care ◽

Care Providers ◽

Voucher Scheme ◽

Care Services ◽

Elderly Health ◽

The Government

Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme is a financial support provided by the government to the elderly for having more choices in selecting private primary health care services. It has been launched for more than ten years (including pilot scheme). The success of the voucher depends on its effectiveness so that Hong Kong elderly can benefit from it. The aim of this article is to analyse whether the voucher scheme has achieved its goals and what improvement can be made. The scheme is successful in encouraging the elderly to use private primary care, considering that the participation rate of the scheme is high, and elderly could use private health care services to supplement public health care services. Yet, the amount of the subsidy is insufficient to support the needs of the elderly and the providers of the voucher are not enough for Hong Kong elderly. Also, it is found that private health care services give the old generation an impression of expensiveness and unreliable even with the support of the Health Care Voucher. To improve the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme and solve the problems, the government should increase the amount of the voucher, set standards for regular monitoring, cooperate with private health care providers and invite more providers. Ultimately, the elderly would enjoy greater flexibility in choosing medical services in meeting their needs and the scheme can effectively achieve its purpose.

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A systematic review to assess the impact of the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme (EHCVS) and the feasibility to fully adopt in Hong Kong elder care services

10.21203/rs.3.rs-48276/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Joe Wing Pun ◽

Lana Elliott

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Hong Kong ◽

Health Care Services ◽

Elder Care ◽

The Elderly ◽

Public Health Care ◽

The Public ◽

Care Services ◽

Elderly Health ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background: Finding a solution to tackle the overcrowding and over-reliance on public health care services has been a policy agenda of the Hong Kong Government throughout the past decade. The purpose of this review is to provide valuable insight for policymakers to understand whether the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme (EHCVS) is a realistic policy tool to shift service demand from the public to the private sector and its possibility to apply in other similar publicly funded settings.Methods: Included records in this review were selected through CINAHL, PubMed, and Google Scholar peer-reviewed articles databases and nine targeted government websites. All potential records were assessed based on the prespecified inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thematic synthesis was used to combine the extracted data and to construct key themes of the impact of the EHCVS.Results: The findings highlight some of the successes of the policy that focus on strengthening the connection between government, elders and private health care providers, and improving the quality of acute care. However, less than successful elements that require revision include designing the purpose of voucher for preventive care and disease management and shifting elders from the public to private health sector through financial incentives. Overall, the analysis suggested the financial subsidies have not motivated elders to utilise private health care services, but rather it demonstrates an effort by the Hong Kong Government to begin addressing public health care waiting lists while prioritising quality care for senior citizens throughout the last 10 years.Conclusion: Better consideration of the subsidy amount to remove the financial burden of the older population, along with greater information disclosure and promotion may increase elders’ willingness to utilise private elder care services, potentially improve the quality of life for seniors, and ultimately reduce the burden on public elder care sector in the future.

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A qualitative study into female sex workers’ experience of stigma in the health care setting in Hong Kong

International Journal for Equity in Health ◽

10.1186/s12939-019-1084-1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Haixia Ma ◽

Alice Yuen Loke

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Hong Kong ◽

Coping Strategies ◽

Sex Work ◽

Sex Workers ◽

Health Care Services ◽

Female Sex Workers ◽

Care Setting ◽

Health Care Setting ◽

Care Services

Abstract Background Hong Kong has gained a good reputation for its quality public health care services. However, there is a growing recognition that social stigma is a potential obstacle when female sex workers (FSWs) access health care services. There are a lack of studies focusing on how FSWs experience and cope with stigma when accessing health care services in Hong Kong. Objective This study aims to explore how FSWs experience stigma and develop coping strategies when accessing health care services in Hong Kong. Methods This is a qualitative interview study. Staff of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that serve sex workers in Hong Kong facilitated the process of recruiting the participants. In-depth individual interviews were conducted with 22 FSWs, focusing on their experiences of stigma and coping strategies when accessing health care services. A directed content analysis approach was adopted to analyze the data. Results The interview data can be grouped into three themes: experience of stigma in the health care setting; coping with the stigma of sex work; and the call for non-judgmental holistic health care. Conclusion This study contributes to an understanding of the experience of stigma and stigma coping strategies of FSWs when accessing health care services in Hong Kong. stigma remains an important issue for a large proportion of FSWs when they seek timely professional help, openly disclose their sex work identity, and receive comprehensive health care services. The study also highlights the need to address multiple healthcare needs of FSWs beyond STDs. Moreover, the study contributes to increasing awareness of, and respect for, the human right of FSWs to receive non-discriminatory health services.

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