New dedicated nurse clinic and allied health services for more holistic management of chronic diseases introduced under Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme
The Health Bureau (HHB) announced today (January 20) that the Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme (CDCC Pilot Scheme) introduces dedicated nurse clinic and allied health services under the district health network at over 40 service points across Hong Kong through strategic purchasing to support District Health Centres (DHCs)/DHC Expresses (DHCEs) in offering a broader scope of healthcare services with better coherence to the CDCC Pilot Scheme participants, thereby further expanding the primary healthcare service network.
The Government launched the CDCC Pilot Scheme in 2023 to subsidise eligible individuals aged 45 or above with no known medical history of diabetes mellitus (DM) or hypertension (HT) to undergo DM and HT screening, attend doctor consultations, receive laboratory investigations and be offered prescribed medication subject to their health conditions in the private healthcare sector by shouldering a certain co-payment amount under a co-payment model. To further enhance the services, the Strategic Purchasing Office of the HHB has procured nurse clinic and allied health services in the private healthcare sector through open tendering to offer tailored and more comprehensive chronic disease management programmes for the CDCC Pilot Scheme participants.
With regard to the dedicated nurse clinic services, new assessment, treatment and prevention services for diabetic foot disease are introduced, together with the formulation of personalised phased improvement plans for a healthy lifestyle and diet for participants. As for the dedicated allied health services, services provided by physiotherapists include customised exercise prescriptions and pain management for complex cases, such as individuals who are overweight and suffering from joint pain. The newly introduced dietetic service offers targeted guidance on nutritional diets for cases that have yet to meet the expected improvement goals despite nursing guidance given, while optometrists conduct fundus photography examinations for patients with DM and HT.
The dedicated nurse clinic and allied health services will be rolled out in phases, with the first phase commencing today to provide nursing and allied health services to CDCC Pilot Scheme participants. Other members of the DHC/DHCEs who are not participating in the CDCC Pilot Scheme will be arranged to receive dedicated nurse clinic and allied health services in the next phase, with details to be announced later.
To encourage citizens to take primary responsibility for managing their own health, the dedicated nurse clinics and allied health services will continue to adopt the co-payment model, under which eligible participants will receive partial subsidy from the Government and also be required to pay a designated co-payment fee (See Annex).
The addresses and service hours of individual service points of the dedicated nurse clinic and allied health services are available on the thematic website of the CDCC Pilot Scheme: www.primaryhealthcare.gov.hk/cdcc/en/gp/resources_after_enrol.html.
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