The Mental Health Review Report (MHRR) recognises some potential barriers to access the existing dementia care services. First, the post-diagnostic medical and community support services for dementia need a long waiting time. Firstly, lack of coordination among service providers in delivering stepped-down care for persons with dementia, is a key issue. Secondly, the current assessment mechanism is not dementia-specific for determining suitable dementia-oriented care services. Lastly, the diagnosis and post-diagnostic secondary or tertiary medical support for younger onset of dementia is often delayed due to inadequate recognition of symptoms by clinicians (Food and Health Bureau, 2017a, p. 162). To overcome these barriers, the implementation of a refined intervention model is recommended to facilitate timely intervention for persons with dementia. Primary care setting can be used as a proper gate-keeping and dementia cases can be transferred to community setting for ongoing management. Enhancing capacity in secondary care, shorten the waiting times, and more effective use of specialist services would be helpful interventions (Food and Health Bureau, 2017a, p. 186).

The Elderly Services Programme Plan (ESPP) recommends the set-up of a real-time vacancy information system and district-based pre-registration system to reduce the barriers of service utilisation and facilitate timely access to service, especially for respite and emergency placement services (Working Group on Elderly Services Programme Plan, 2017, pp. 24-25). It also recommends the need to improve the current assessment mechanism for better service matching and develop a case management model for better coordination among different services (Working Group on Elderly Services Programme Plan, 2017, p. 29).

References:

Food and Health Bureau. (2017a). Mental Health Review Report.  Retrieved from https://www.fhb.gov.hk/download/press_and_publications/otherinfo/180500_mhr/e_mhr_full_report.pdf.

Working Group on Elderly Services Programme Plan, Elderly Commission of Government of Hong Kong SAR,. (2017). Elderly Services Programme Plan. Hong Kong: Elderly Commission of Government HKSAR Retrieved from https://www.elderlycommission.gov.hk/en/download/library/ESPP_Final_Report_Eng.pdf.