Feature in news.gov.hk - Specialist care for special kids （9 December 2018）

Video Transcript

Hong Kong’s first children’s hospital will open in phases starting on December 18.

To support the diagnosis and treatment of patients, services such as radiology, pharmacy and pathology will also be in place.

The hospital’s healthcare professionals are well prepared for the challenges of treating young patients.

Hong Kong Children's Hospital Radiographer Fiona Mak：

I’ve worked as a radiographer for over 10 years now. With the use of medical imaging equipment and systems, we take pictures of the human body for diagnostic purposes. I joined Hong Kong Children’s Hospital last year in October.

We’ve had children coming in for procedures where the kid struggled around and the parents were frustrated, and we weren’t able to proceed with the scan.

Here at Hong Kong Children’s Hospital, we have incorporated child-friendly designs into the clinical setting to accommodate children with their needs.

We also have different themes and designs for the rooms. Say, for MRI we have the ocean theme and we also have an audio-visual system. We have the goggles and the headphones for them so they can watch their favourite movie during the scan. Ultrasound is usually done with the lights dimmed, so we have the night sky with the stars on the wall. So when the child lies down on the table, they can see the stars around the room. We’ve also prepared glow-in-the-dark stars for the children. So they get to put their sticker on the wall once they’re done with the procedure. Hopefully it will help to alleviate some of their stress and (act as) some distraction for them during the procedure.

Hong Kong Children's Hospital Pharmacist Hobart Ng：

Apart from the routine daily dispensing, my major duty is to provide clinical pharmacy service in paediatrics as well as the antibiotics stewardship programme. In 2016, I have transferred to Hong Kong Children’s Hospital. And in the future, I will continue to provide paediatric oncology clinical pharmacy service.

Many people in Hong Kong can only reach a pharmacist only when they have to fill their prescription after a medical consultation.

In fact, clinical pharmacy service has been developed in the recent years. Many clinical pharmacists have worked in the ward level as a member of the multi-disciplinary team to actively participate in the patient care process. Hong Kong Children’s Hospital will serve as a tertiary referral centre for complicated cases in Hong Kong. We have kick-started a patient counselling project for our paediatric oncology patients. We will provide detailed patient counselling for the patients with newly-diagnosed leukaemia. Our goal is to teach them well and let them lead so that the medication therapy could be optimised. Patients can learn to take the medicine at the right time and at the right dosage.

Hong Kong Children's Hospital Medical Technologist Bosco Wong：

I’m a medical technologist. I’ve worked in this field for 12 years. Since 2014, I’ve joined the Hong Kong Children’s Hospital commissioning team. And I work with my supervisor for the early service planning of the pathology department.

Our work is very important for the curing of the children. First, we need to help the clinician to diagnose their disorder. And then during the treatment process, we help them to monitor the progress. Finally, our testing results can provide information to estimate the chance of recovery for the patient.

We need to select suitable equipment for their analysis. As the blood volume of children is relatively small, in order to prevent the stress created during resampling, we selected some analysers that use only a little sample volume in order to achieve the Children’s Hospital’s aim as a children-centred hospital.

Voiceover：

The hospital’s specialist outpatient clinic for paediatric oncology, nephrology and inborn errors of metabolism will be the first to open.

While inpatient and ambulatory services will begin gradually in 2019.

There is no accident and emergency department or general outpatient clinic in the hospital. All patient cases must be referred by registered doctors in public hospitals or the private sector.

Hospitals can be an intimidating place for youngsters, so the building’s children-centred and family-friendly design provides a truly supportive and therapeutic environment for them and their families.

They can visit the central rehabilitation garden in between the hospital’s two towers to find living sculptures of animals, or they can have fun in the play areas.

Some wards will allow parents to visit the young patients 24 hours a day and even provide them with foldable night beds for overnight stays if necessary.

The hospital will also introduce the city’s first hydrotherapy pool with adjustable depth. With a depth ranging from zero to 1.7 metres, the pool allows children of different heights to receive hydrotherapy.

There is also wheelchair access to the pool.

Hong Kong Children's Hospital Hospital Chief Executive Dr Lee Tsz-leung：

Children with serious diseases, requiring major and high-risk surgery will receive treatment here. So we want to provide an environment that doesn’t look like a hospital, a more home-like environment and also with colourful paintings so that their fear and anxiety could be lessened.

All the rare and severe cases are concentrated here. It will help the healthcare professionals to build up their experience faster, and also help to align better treatment protocols here.

We hope that we could achieve excellence in clinical care, research support for the healthcare professionals and also provide more opportunity for the training of our healthcare workers.

Actually, it is a dream come true for paediatricians and all those healthcare providers for the sick children with the establishment of the Hong Kong Children’s Hospital.