At HKCH, the allied health team is one of the key players in the treatment and rehabilitation of children suffering from serious, complex and uncommon diseases. Demand for service is high. For example, among the inpatients under Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, over 90% and 60% are referred to physiotherapy and occupational therapy services respectively.

In the Integrated Rehabilitation Centre, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, dietitians, clinical psychologists and prosthetist-orthotists jointly provide patients with comprehensive services. Manager (Allied Health) Nerita Chan said, “Our colleagues are experienced and passionate in taking care of children and understand their unique needs. This is crucial for overall service planning, and tailor-making appropriate and coordinated treatments for each patient.”

▲Manager (Allied Health) Nerita Chan said, while standard regimen may not be available for some uncommon diseases, therapists would try their best to find references and develop their own, for example, using gait analysis to assess how certain medications work for patients with muscular dystrophy.

She added, “Children with congenital diseases may not be able to fully recover. Therefore, the goal of rehab is to give them the right support as they grow, so that they can maximize their functional abilities to live a quality life. They shouldn’t be deprived of the right to learn and play, so we work closely with families and schools to support their daily activities.”

▲Patients can do different exercises in the hydrotherapy pool equipped with adjustable floor, treadmill and underwater cameras.

Allied health professionals also regularly participate in many multi-disciplinary meetings and joint clinics with clinical departments to formulate patients’ treatment and rehab plan. For instance, they work with paediatric, orthopaedic and neurosurgical specialties to conduct comprehensive assessment for patients with mucopolysaccharide disease to make appropriate surgical intervention plan; and conduct a 6-minute walk test for cardiac patients to evaluate their cardiopulmonary capacity before each follow-up appointment, giving doctors standardized references to monitor their progress.

▲Allied health professionals of various disciplines having regular patient case meeting with doctors from the haematology and oncology and neurology teams.