CPCE Health Conference 2019

Towards a More Humanistic, Holistic, and Integrated Model of Care

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)-affiliated College of Professional and Continuing Education (CPCE), with its educational unit of School of Professional Education and Executive Development (SPEED) and Hong Kong Community College (HKCC), held the CPCE Health Conference in collaboration with Hong Kong College of Community Health Practitioners (HKCCHP), Hong Kong College of Health Service Executives (HKCHSE), and Hong Kong College of Nursing and Health Care Management (HKCNHCM) on PolyU Hung Hom Bay Campus on 14 January 2019.

Prof. Peter Yuen (4th from left), Dean of CPCE, Prof. Warren Chiu (3rd from left), Associate Dean (Quality Assurance) of CPCE, Dr. Simon Leung (2nd from right), Associate Dean (Development) of CPCE and Director of HKCC, Dr. Jack Lo (3rd from right), Director of SPEED, Dr. Artie Ng (2nd from left), Deputy Director of SPEED, Dr. Ben Fong (right), Senior Lecturer of SPEED and Director of CAHMR and Dr. Vincent Law (left), Senior Lecturer of SPEED stacked blocks to complete the CAHMR logo, marking the official opening of the centre.

This Conference with the theme “Towards a More Humanistic, Holistic and Integrated Model of Care” aims to explore various issues and stakeholders’ concerns over healthcare services delivered by public and private providers. The Conference comprised 11 plenary sessions, six parallel sessions with 30 presentations and six poster presentations, which generated fruitful dialogues as well as possible future collaborations among over 200 delegates and guest speakers in attendance. Academics and honourable guests from near and far, including Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, etc., were invited to deliver speeches during the plenary sessions that provided international insights from practices of different countries around this year’s theme.

 

In Prof. Peter Yuen’s speech, he proposed a “humanistic care continuum” conceptual framework to achieve a more humanistic and holistic care model that promotes patient empowerment and enhances patients’ value, choice, and dignity. He suggested that the Hong Kong government should increase spending on community healthcare and long-term care services such as day care and home care rather than spending close to 90% of public health care dollars on hospital care.

Dr. the Honourable Ching-choi Lam, BBS, JP, Chief Executive Officer, Haven of Hope Christian Service and Member of the Executive Council, Government of the HKSAR, spoke about advancing end-of-life care in Hong Kong. Dr. Lam shared that unlike people in other developed countries or regions like the UK, the US, Taiwan and Japan, Hong Kong people are seldom aware that they can choose where to spend their last days - at home, in nursing homes in the community or in hospitals. Currently, 90% of deaths in Hong Kong occur at hospitals. He suggested that as we shape a more humanistic, holistic and integrated model of care, end-of-life care and dying-in-place should be made a key topic in the public discourse to prepare us to embrace the upcoming grey tsunami with Hong Kong’s ageing population.

Prof. David Briggs, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New England, Australia and Naresuan University, Thailand; Editor, Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management; Immediate Past President, Society for Health Administration Programs in Education (SHAPE), Australia, shared perspectives from Australia on moving towards more holistic and humane integrated models of care. Prof. Briggs proposed a framework for public policy analysis that might allow those involved to achieve a more humane and integrated approach to models of care. The framework mainly challenges policy makers to question deeper during the policy making process on what is happening and for what purposes.

Among the speakers of the Plenary Sessions, Prof. Soonman Kwon from Seoul National University discussed the lack of gatekeeping in health and long-term care (LTC) system since the introduction of public insurance in 2008 for LTC in South Korea; Prof. Kai Hong Phua from National University of Singapore spoke on the contemporary trends and policy issues in ageing in Singapore; Prof. Tomonori Hasegawa from Toho University shared issues on ageing and diversity of medical needs, specifically in the cost of illness of cerebrovascular disease in Japan; Prof. Dongwoon Han from Hanyang University discussed the feasibility of implementing community care policy in South Korea; and Prof. Gordon Liu from Peking University shared his insights on political versus economic considerations in health policy settings on the Chinese mainland.

About CPCE, HKCC and SPEED

HKCC and SPEED are two self-financed educational units operating under the auspices of CPCE, which was founded by PolyU in 2002. HKCC currently offers more than 30 sub-degree programmes spanning the domains of arts, science, social sciences, business and the specialised areas of health studies and design. As for SPEED, it provides around 30 full-time and part-time top-up honours degree programmes leading to PolyU-SPEED awards, which match closely the articulation needs of HKCC graduates in related disciplines.

Press coverage:

• The Standard
• Wen Wei Po