Hong Kong: recent development of mental health services

Abstract

From a very deprived baseline, mental health services in Hong Kong have undergone some growth over the past decade. The number of inpatient beds for psychiatric treatment dropped by one-third, but the community mental health service expanded significantly. A number of low-resource phase-specific and age-specific treatment programmes were introduced, with promising initial results. However, there remain many challenges, including a serious shortage of well-trained mental health professionals. Much more investment in mental health workforce development is required to meet the service needs not only of today, but also of tomorrow.