Budget Speech

Mental Health Services

154.      The Government will provide additional funding of over $210 million to the HA in 2011-12 for strengthening support for people with mental illnesses.

155.      First, the Case Management Programme targeted at patients with severe mental illness will be extended to five more districts, thereby increasing the number of beneficiaries from 5 000 in 2010-11 to 11 000 in 2011-12. Crisis intervention teams will be set up in all HA clusters to handle emergency referrals at the community level and follow up on high risk patients. It is expected that about 1 000 patients will benefit from this new measure each year. The Integrated Mental Health Programme will also be extended to cover all HA clusters to provide assessment and consultation services in the primary care setting for patients with common mental disorder. It is expected that the number of beneficiaries will increase to about 7 000 each year.

156.      Furthermore, the Early Assessment and Detection of Young Persons with Psychosis Programme will be expanded to cover adults. It is expected to provide services to an additional 600 or so beneficiaries in 2011-12. The psychogeriatric outreach services will also be extended to cover about 80 additional residential care homes for the elderly in 2011-12. Regarding mental health services for children and adolescents, dedicated professional teams will be expanded to provide services for an additional 3 000 or so children with autism or hyperactivity disorder each year.

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