'Allow More Charities To Give Home Visit Services'

A specialist group says a study it has carried out shows expert advice and care through home visits will help recovering elderly patients improve their health.

The Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Charity Foundation is now urging officials to allow other charities to provide such services to lessen the burden on hospitals.

The foundation said its team – comprising of physiotherapists and nurses – has been providing home visits to around 600 patients per year who have been discharged from the Nethersole hospital in Tai Po.

The group's spokeswoman, Dr Pamela Leung, said staff are able to carry out their visits as the patients' records are made available to them being as the Hospital Authority accepts the team as honorary workers.

The group provides services such as physical and cognitive training, home modifications and caregiver training.

It said the study they did last year found a 24 percent improvement in mobility and 16 percent improvement in patients' ability to do daily chores.

This can reduce hospital re-admission rates among the elderly and also shows positive effects in reducing the strain on caregivers, the foundation said.

Leung told RTHK's Candice Wong that allowing charities to take up this role would ease the burden on public hospitals.