The Health Bureau today announced that the Chronic Disease Co-Care (CDCC) Pilot Scheme has introduced dedicated nurse clinic and allied health services under the district health network at over 40 service points across Hong Kong, further expanding the primary healthcare service network.

The pilot scheme subsidises eligible individuals aged 45 or above to undergo diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HT) screening, attend doctor consultations, receive laboratory investigations, and get prescribed medication subject to their health conditions in the private healthcare sector.

Participants of the pilot scheme, launched by the Government in 2023, shoulder a certain co-payment amount under a co-payment model of the CDCC scheme.

The bureau’s Strategic Purchasing Office has procured nurse clinic and allied health services in the private healthcare sector through open tendering to offer tailored and more comprehensive chronic disease management programmes for the participants.

With regard to the dedicated nurse clinic services, new assessment, treatment and prevention services for diabetic foot disease are introduced, together with the formulation of personalised phased improvement plans for a healthy lifestyle and diet for participants.

As for the dedicated allied health services, services provided by physiotherapists include customised exercise prescriptions and pain management for complex cases.

The newly introduced dietetic service offers targeted guidance on nutritional diets for cases that have yet to meet the expected improvement goals despite nursing guidance given, while optometrists conduct fundus photography examinations for patients with DM and HT.

The dedicated nurse clinic and allied health services will be rolled out in phases, with the first phase starting today to provide services to CDCC pilot scheme participants.

In the next phase, arrangements will be made for members of District Health Centres (DHC) and DHC Expresses who are not joining the CDCC scheme, to receive the relevant services.

Additionally, all services will continue to adopt the co-payment model.