The Hospital Authority (HA) revealed yesterday their plan to advance the date of setting up psychiatric triage clinics as the current financial turmoil is putting more and more people under psychological stress.

Currently at public hospitals, patients with mental illnesses have to be referred from general outpatient clinics to specialized outpatient clinics.

But with the psychiatric triage clinics, patients in need of urgent psychiatric services will be immediately tended by a psychiatrist and no referral is needed.

Each clinic will have at least one psychiatrist, who will provide quick assessment for patients.

HA's chief executive Shane Solomon said their original plan is to open one psychiatric triage clinic at each of the seven hospital clusters in April or May next year.

But with the onset of the financial crisis, he said the authority is planning to open the clinics a few months earlier.

The HA will have two to three months to plan for the opening of the clinics because it normally takes three to six months for mental problems incurred by financial losses to surface.

Besides, a surge in demand for psychiatric services and a need to reduce waiting time at special outpatient clinics are also calling for early openings of the clinics, Solomon said.

Patients at psychiatric outpatient clinics have increased from 51,000 in September to over 55,000 in October.

The chief executive said it is unclear whether the rise in patient number is due to the financial downturn but they do see a surge in demand for psychiatric services in future.

A Central Coordination Committee composed of psychiatrists will work out the details of forming the psychiatric triage clinics.

Charlie Chan, social work supervisor at Caritas Youth and Community Service said the financial crisis has made people more stressful and he believed more and more people will look for help.

Living and money are always the main source of stress for Hong Kong people, he added.

"People feel less secure about their jobs, especially the low income group," he said.

Chan believed it is good for the HA to start running psychiatric triage clinics earlier.

(HK Edition 10/31/2008 page1)