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Palliative Social Work Satellite Symposium 2015 –
“Harmony in Diversity: Special Foci in Palliative Social Work”

10 Nov 2015

To promote a positive attitude towards death and dying and to increase public awareness of hospice and palliative care, the Palliative Social Work Satellite Symposium 2015 "Harmony in Diversity: Special Foci in Palliative Social Work ", was held at the Auditorium of the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs Association today (November 10). The event was organised by the Department of Social Work and Social Administration of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and sponsored by the Li Ka Shing Foundation "Heart of Gold" Hong Kong Hospice Service Program, with an attendance of over 350 healthcare professionals.

Professor Terry Lum, Head of the HKU Department of Social Work and Social Administration, officiated at the opening ceremony. The half-day program consisted of two sessions: "Quality Care to Special Losses" and "Creative Mindsets in End-of-Life Care ", discussion topics included palliative social work practice and prospects in Hong Kong and Singapore, coping strategies for couples facing life-threatening illnesses, application of expressive arts in bereavement care, recognition of disenfranchised grief, and sharing of frontline social works in palliative care settings and suggestions for professional competency enhancements.

According to the latest EIU Global Quality of Death Index Report, Hong Kong has been overtaken and left far behind by neighboring countries and regions in the development of palliative care services. To successfully deal with these new challenges, the professional healthcare team should equip themselves with empirical clinical knowledge and skills, and fully utilises community resources, to provide patients with holistic care that takes their physical, psychosocial and spiritual needs into account. The needs of patients and their caregivers which have not been taken care of should now be addressed by improving the standard of care and providing appropriate interventions. These end-of-life care related issues were widely discussed at the symposium.

On the other hand, to improve the existing hospice and palliative care services, active participation of the community and the authorities is needed to raise public awareness and build consensus for a better end-of-life education, to remove the prejudice of death in traditional cultural taboos. Moreover, in response to the aging population, there is a growing demand for death preparation and betterment of end-of-life care for the elderly and patients with chronic illnesses.

The HKU Department of Social Work and Social Administration is one of the leaders in providing social work training in the field of hospice and palliative care. With an ageing population, the Department also introduced courses of "Life & Death Education", "Holistic Care" and "Bereavement Support" to equip students and practitioners with evidence-based intervention techniques.

The Li Ka Shing Foundation (LKSF) "Heart of Gold" Hong Kong Hospice Service Program set up the nation's first free hospice at the First Affiliated Hospital of the Shantou University Medical College in 1998 in response to the growing need in serving terminally ill cancer patients in mainland China. The "Heart of Gold" National Hospice Service Program provides free hospice care for impoverished cancer patients at home, offering pain alleviation, psychological counseling, and other terminal care. The "Heart of Gold" Hospice Service Program has developed a nationwide network of 42 top-rated hospice homes across Mainland China and Hong Kong. About 190,000 cancer patients have benefited.

As part of the expanded program, the LKSF has also launched a website called Hospice Home (www.hospicehome.hk ), which is a one-stop platform for hospice service information and interaction. Over 560,000 online visits have been recorded since the launch of the website. In 2014, the LKSF introduced the Hospice Home App, to further engage the public in discussions of Hong Kong hospice and palliative care development.

The "Heart of Gold" Hong Kong Hospice Service Program has since its launch:
- Served more than 290,000 specialists clinics and centres service sessions
- Recruited and trained over 3,000 volunteers
- Provided more than 83,000 home care visits
- Provided more than 66,000 sessions of psychological counseling for patients and families
- Provided bereavement counseling for over 2,400 children and their families

Li Ka Shing Foundation Official Website: www.lksf.org
Hospital Authority - Li Ka Shing Foundation "Heart of Gold" Hong Kong Hospice Service Program":
http://www21.ha.org.hk/sub/lks/EN/service.html
Hospicehome Website: www.hospicehome.hk

For media enquiries, please contact:
Ms. Amy Choi (Senior Executive Assistant, Centre on Behavioral Health, HKU; Tel: 2831 5163; email: amychoi@hku.hk) or Mr. Johnny Chan (Research Coordinator, Department of Social Work and Social Administration, HKU;  Tel: 2831 5158; email: chankcj@hku.hk).