Caritas Medical Centre is a hospital

Hospital

A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....

 in Cheung Sha Wan

Cheung Sha Wan

Cheung Sha Wan is an area between Lai Chi Kok and Sham Shui Po in New Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is mainly residential to the north and south, with an industrial area in between. Administratively it is part of Sham Shui Po District. The Sham Shui Po District includes Mei Foo as well as Lai Chi...

, New Kowloon

New Kowloon

New Kowloon is an area in Kowloon, Hong Kong, bounded in the south by Boundary Street, and in the north by the ranges of the Lion Rock, Beacon Hill, Tate's Cairn and Kowloon Peak...

, Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

. It is the major hospital in Sham Shui Po District

Sham Shui Po District

Sham Shui Po District is one of 18 districts of Hong Kong. It covers the Shek Kip Mei, Sham Shui Po, Cheung Sha Wan, Lai Chi Kok and Yau Yat Chuen areas of New Kowloon, and Stonecutter's Island of Kowloon...

 and managed by the Hospital Authority

Hospital Authority

The Hospital Authority is a statutory body managing all the public hospitals and institutes in Hong Kong. It is managed by the Hospital Authority Board and is under the monitor of the Secretary for Food and Health of the Hong Kong Government. Its chairman is Mr...

 and Caritas Hong Kong

Caritas Hong Kong

Caritas Hong Kong is a charitable organisation of Caritas founded by the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong in July 1953. It started with relief and rehabilitation services to the poor and the distressed after the Second World War. It nowaday expands to involve social service, education service,...

.

History

Founded by Caritas-Hong Kong in 1964, Caritas Medical Centre is an acute general hospital with around 1,100 beds situated in Shamshuipo. It provides a full range of acute and rehabilitation care, ambulatory and community medical services, including a 24-hour accident and emergency service, general outpatient service, and inpatient and outpatient specialist services in a one-stop setting - so called single episode care. The hospital maintains close ties with its parent organization, Caritas-Hong Kong, and a strong Catholic culture under the motto "Love in the Service of Hope".

Services

The hospital has well-developed supporting services, including Pathology, Radiology, Anaesthesiology and Allied Health services. Other ambulatory and outreach community services include Geriatric Day Hospital and Community Geriatric Assessment Team, Community Nursing service, and Palliative Home Care service. The services provided reflect the needs of the population served - ageing, low income, new immigrants.

Caritas Medical Centre is the referral centre of the Kowloon West Cluster of the Hospital Authority in Eye service serving the entire Kowloon west region. The Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Service for Kowloon West Cluster is also based at Caritas Medical Centre. The Palliative Care Unit (inpatient and home care team) serves patients referred from hospitals of the Kowloon West Cluster. The hospital runs the largest Developmental Disabilities

Developmental disability

Developmental disability is a term used in the United States and Canada to describe lifelong disabilities attributable to mental or physical impairments, manifested prior to age 18. It is not synonymous with "developmental delay" which is often a consequence of a temporary illness or trauma during...

Unit (Project Sunshine) for the entire territory of Hong Kong, to provide treatment, training and daily care for severely mentally-handicapped patients under the age of 16 in a home-like setting. Despite not being a university hospital, it does provide clinical training for medical and nursing students from the three local universities.

Future Development

To meet the ever increasing demand and expectation in medical services, Caritas Medical Centre has started a major re-development project which has its phase I completed in 2002 - a 14-storey new block, Wai Shun Block, for accommodating all acute services. Planning for re-development of the rest of the facilities of the hospital (phase II - ambulatory, rehabilitation and supporting services) has already started, with completion date planned in 2013.

Scandals at the hospital

The hospital has been involved in serious governance issues, including the unnecessary death of a patient on its doorstep and the apparent inside-job theft of a computer disc containing sensitive data for thousands of patients.