Child & adolescent (C&A) mental health service demonstrates a growing demand in Hong Kong in recent 10 years as reflected by the increasing trend of SOPD new case waiting time though various new service models have been incorporated. As a result, there was a great demand for allied health training services to address the mental health needs of this population.
Occupational Therapist is one of the core member of the C&A multidisciplinary team providing program-based training for patients of various developmental disorders, including Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit & Hyperactivity Disorder and other Mood Disorders.
With the sudden pandemic attack of COVID-19 in early 2020 in Hong Kong, most consultation and training services were disrupted. Opportunities for new service model created. Inspired by the commercial world of work-from-home with daily online business meeting and the arrangement of online class for school students in the educational field, Occupational therapist in the C&A team of the NTWC grasp the opportunity and transform our training service to deliver online. The first telehealth program piloted in July 2020. Outcome evaluation was conducted for all participants and their feedback were collected through survey. We go through different hurdles including hardware & software preparation, liaison with stake holders and arranging related logistics. With the positive feedback from our patients and their carers, we keep expending our telehealth service for different age groups and different conditions. A total telehealth attendance counts of 8318 was attained during 2020 & 2022.
Upon the resumption of Day Hospital service and OPD group service in January 2023, supported with the positive feedback from carers and stake holders, we transformed our traditional face-to-face service model to hybrid service model which includes both face-to-face class and telehealth class in program protocols. Free telehealth classes were gradually shifted to charged service after validating the protocol-driven programs at COC levels. In December 2023, with the support of Virtual Office established by CSC(AH) office in NTWC, we smoothly shifted all telehealth class conducted online via ZOOM to HA Go.
To conclude, C&A mental health service in NTWC transited smoothly from traditional to pandemic and then a new normal with hybrid service mode embedded into our mainstream service.
