POLICY EXPRESS · PE-FHB-167 · Food and Health Bureau
Mental Health Services
The front door to care is wider, but children wait a median 77 weeks for routine psychiatry and stepped care still lacks workforce standards.
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2 pages · English and 繁體中文 · Built on the 1134211 Framework · Facts as at 25 October 2026
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The tension and our thesis
The tension
Hong Kong has widened the front door to mental health care, yet specialist waits for children are lengthening and the workforce and standards for the community steps are still being drawn up.
Our thesis
Show where people go after the front door, fund children first and build the stepped care workforce before scaling.
Three policy problems this brief examines
- 01Children wait longest where need is growing
- 02The front door is wide, the next step thin
- 03The workforce and standards are not ready
Each problem is developed in three layers: the fact, why it persists, and the consequence for the system.
Three options compared
A · More specialist capacity: expand HA psychiatric services directly.
B · Community step first: scale the pilot, community centres and peer support.
C · Standards first: finish the competency framework before any expansion.
The scored comparison, the justified recommendation with its phased measures, the implementation challenges, the stakeholder assessment and the success metrics are in the full brief.
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Both pages, in English and Traditional Chinese: the introduction and background, key figures, the three policy problems, the scored options, the recommendation with its phased measures, the implementation challenges, the stakeholder assessment and the conclusion.
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