About Us
About Us
Our Service Highlights
Our Achievements
Our Professional Team
Medical Journals and Research Papers
The Department of Psychiatry of United Christian Hospital (UCH) was established in 1974. It was one of the earliest psychiatric units in Hong Kong established within an acute general hospital. Apart from providing in-patient, out-patient and day-patient services, our department pioneered the development of community psychiatric service, in keeping with UCH’s concept of “hospital without walls” which fosters community-oriented patient care. 
 
Our department provides quality and comprehensive cluster-based service to the Kowloon East Cluster (KEC), which serves the populations of Kwun Tong and Tseung Kwan O areas. In-patient services are provided in 2 psychiatric wards (1 male ward and 1 female ward) in UCH. Psychiatric Specialist Out-patient Clinics (SOPCs) are located in UCH, Yung Fung Shee Psychiatric Centre (YFSPC), and Tseung Kwan O Hospital (TKOH). Psychiatric Day Hospitals are located in UCH and YFSPC.
 
We adopt a multi-disciplinary service approach involving psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, nurses, medical social workers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, peer support workers, speech therapists and Red Cross School teachers. Our department consists of 41 full time medical staff, around 150 nursing staff and 100 supporting staff.
 
In the short future, our department will prepare for a new psychiatric ambulatory centre and 2 gazette wards. We shall strive to optimize service capacity, uphold service quality and retain valuable and devoted staff members for the betterment of the KEC community.

In-Patient Service

  • Inpatient wards are situated at 3/F of Block P at United Christian Hospital (UCH) which include Two acute informal wards (one for each gender) by providing 80 beds including: 56 beds for adults, 16 beds for elderly, and 8 beds for child & adolescent patients. They cater to patients who are in need of hospital-based psychiatric management. An extensive range of treatment including pharmacological treatment, psychotherapy, physical care, individual and family psychoeducation and counselling, rehabilitation, psychosocial interventions, and spiritual support, is provided

Day-hospital Service

  • Provides a total of 110 places for adult and psycho-geriatric patients in UCH and YFSPC
  • Adopts a recovery-oriented approach to enhance re-integration of patients into the community, especially for post-discharge patients to allow smooth transition between in-patient and out-patient care
  • Pioneers telecare and on-line therapeutic group programs for patients to receive psychiatric rehabilitation at home
  • Operates a structured 3-tier model comprising the Partial Hospitalization Program, Day Treatment Program, and Day Care Program to provide flexible and stepped levels of psychiatric rehabilitation tailored to patients’ varying needs and recovery stages
     

Out-patient Service

  • Provides specialty out-patient service to general adult, psycho-geriatric and child and adolescent psychiatric patients
  • Three work sites including UCH, YFSPC and Tseung Kwan O Hospital (TKOH)
     

Psycho-geriatric Team

  • Provides comprehensive psychiatric in-patient, out-patient, day-patient and out-reach services to elderly patients over the age of 65 
  • Comprises of multi-disciplinary team members including psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, clinical psychologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and medical social workers
  • Collaborates closely with 43 elderly homes to provide medical and nursing out-reach services. Support from doctors and nurses are also provided to another designated 15 private elderly homes whom do not receive out-reach services. Health talks and workshops are run to enhance skills and knowledge of health care workers taking care of elderly residents
  • Utilizes telehealth technology to provide remote medical consultations for residents in elderly homes, enhancing service accessibility while minimizing the physical strain and logistical challenges of travel for elderly patients
  • The Memory Clinic is jointly operated with the Department of Medicine and Geriatrics. The clinic offers multi-dimensional assessments and early intervention to patients with memory impairment. The clinic also provides family and carers with information and education on the management of dementia patients at home. The 2 teams also work together to streamline the outreach service to elderly homes
  • The Elderly Suicide Prevention Program (ESPP) is a proactive fast track clinic providing early detection and intervention to elderly persons who are at risk of suicide. The clinic accepts a wide range of referrals including direct referrals from community-based social workers
  • A medical-social collaborative platform is formed with the 3 Geriatrics teams and 6 District Elderly Community Centers within Kowloon East Cluster (KEC) to facilitate referrals to the Dementia Community Support Scheme (DCSS) and enhance communication with different stakeholders working towards improvement of dementia care 
  • Runs different health education and support groups to carers and patients with special need e.g. elderly with alcohol problem 

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services

  • Provides quality and comprehensive psychiatric in-patient, out-patient and day-patient services to child and adolescent patients under the age of 18
  • Comprised of multi-disciplinary team members including psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, clinical psychologists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, Red Cross School teachers, medical social workers and dietitian
  • Provides specially designed therapeutic groups to cater for the specific needs of different patient groups, e.g. social skills training for autistic spectrum disorder patients, behavioural management group for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder patients, etc
  • Liaison with Department of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine on the management of patients with physical and psychiatric comorbidities. Collaboration between Child and Adolescent Psychiatry & Paediatrics (COCP) to enhance service for patients with attention deficit & hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
  • Provides support to caregivers of child and adolescent patients through parental skills training and counseling
  • Collaborates closely with community partners including schools and non-governmental organizations to help mental health promotion and enhance community support to patients and their caregivers 
  • Student Mental Health Support Scheme (SMHSS) Team provides comprehensive, multi-disciplinary services, e.g. school visits, annual screening, case conferences etc., to enhance communication and collaboration among healthcare, education and social welfare professionals in 42 primary schools and secondary schools
     

Substance Abuse Team

The Kowloon East Substance Abuse Clinic (SAC) provides comprehensive specialist care for people with substance use problems, with a focus on co-existing psychiatric and psychological conditions. Our service adopts a multi-disciplinary approach and works closely with community partners to support recovery and reintegration.
 
We support service users with substance misuse, especially where there are mental health concerns (psychiatric comorbidity) with:
  • Comprehensive assessment (bio-psycho-social; psychiatric and physical health needs) and treatment planning
  • Detoxification support (as clinically indicated)
  • Addiction counselling & motivational interviewing to support readiness and relapse prevention
  • Management of co-morbid psychiatric / psychological problems (psychiatric comorbidity)
  • Close collaboration with community partners: e.g. Counselling Centre for Psychotropic Substance Abusers (CCPSA) to identify at-risk substance abusers for earlier referral and treatment to facilitate rehabilitation and reintegration into society
SAC provides multi-disciplinary care, which may include:
  • Medical: psychiatric comorbidity management
  • Nursing: case manager/advisor/educator
  • Clinical Psychology (CP): psychological input, neurocognitive assessment & rehabilitation
  • Occupational Therapy (OT): cognitive assessment and rehabilitation, vocational input and lifestyle redesign
  • Medical Social Work (MSW): abode / financial/counselling support
 
New Technology & New Service:
SAC is developing and using Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) as an adjunct intervention to help clients reduce craving for illicit drugs

Neuromodulation Team

  • Provides protocol-driven Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to selected in-patients and out-patients 
  • ECT and TMS sessions are regularly available to provide acute-phase and maintenance-phase treatment to patients in need
  • Close liaison with other professionals e.g. anaesthesiologists, physicians, dentists etc. to formulate individualised ECT treatment plan for patients with complex physical conditions
     

Community Psychiatric Services (CPS)

  • Delivers timely, high-quality psychiatric care to the Kowloon East and Tseung Kwan O communities through a collaborative team of psychiatrists, community psychiatric nurses, occupational therapists, and social workers.
  • Collaborates with community care partners to provide mental health education and promotion within the community.
  • Comprises a three-tier service model, including the Intensive Care Team (ICT), the Personalised Care Programme (PCP), and Standard Community Psychiatric Services (Standard CPS), as well as the Community Psychiatric Team (CPT).
  • Intensive Care Team (ICT): Provides intensive community care, including crisis intervention and assertive community outreach. The team focuses on risk management and harm reduction for known cases with a high risk of violence, suicide, or self-neglect, as well as those with high clinical complexity.
  • Personalised Care Programme (PCP): Provides long-term community support for known cases with frequent relapses, poor medication compliance, or significant psychosocial and emotional difficulties. The program offers proactive community care to prevent clinical deterioration and crisis situations.
  • Standard Community Psychiatric Services (Standard CPS): Offers support to known cases requiring community-based assistance to maintain mental stability and optimize functional capabilities. These interventions aim to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions and facilitate successful community reintegration.
  • Community Psychiatric Team (CPT): Operates as an integral part of CPS to ensure a seamless psychiatric service delivery system for the community. This multidisciplinary team includes psychiatrists, community psychiatric nurses, clinical psychologists, medical social workers, and occupational therapists.

Consultation-liaison Service

  • Comprised of consultation-liaison psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses
  • Provides timely and high-quality psychiatric consultation services to other specialties and Accident & Emergency Departments of UCH, TKOH and HHH
  • Provides a wide range of psychiatric evaluation and treatment in a general hospital setting to different patient groups including adults, children and adolescents, elderlies, peri-natal women, substance and alcohol abusers etc.
  • Tele-Psychiatry
    Establishment of new tele-psychiatry services for the delivery of mental health services during COVID-19, including tele-consultation for psycho-geriatric outreach service, virtual visiting in psychiatric wards, individual and group therapies in the psychiatric day hospital etc.
  • Substance abuse service obtained sponsorship from Beat Drugs Fund 2021 for a 3-year project to strengthen medical intervention by adopting innovative technology- transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on craving control and motivation to abstinence for drug abusers who were complicated by severe mental illness. This project was expected to benefit a target of 180 high-risk patients
  • Collaboration with Department of Pharmacy to streamline medication dispatching and monitoring mechanisms, and to provide medication education to patients to enhance their understanding and treatment adherence

2025

  • 2025 Best Poster Display Award in HA Convention
               
 
         

2022

  • Dr YIP Kim Wai (Associate Consultant) was selected for KEC Merit Young Achiever Award 2022
     

2021

  • Kowloon East Cluster (KEC) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service was selected for KEC Outstanding Team Award 2021
     

2020

  • Dr WAN Yuen Ting (Associate Consultant) was selected for KEC Young Achiever Award 2020
     

2019

  • Dr WONG Mei Cheung (Consultant) was selected for Hospital Authority Young Achiever Award 2019 and KEC Young Achiever Award 2019
     
Our professional team is comprised of multi-disciplinary professionals including psychiatrists, nurses, and allied health professionals including clinical psychologists, medical social workers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, peer support workers, speech therapists and Red Cross School teachers. Our team provides quality services to patients of Kowloon East Cluster in United Christian Hospital, Yung Fung Shee Psychiatric Centre and Tseung Kwan O Hospital.
  • Organises regular research interest groups and journal clubs to foster continuous learning and sharing of the latest psychiatric research findings
  • Collaborates with other hospitals and university units to develop research projects and generate publications that advance patient care and psychiatric practices
  • Facilitates knowledge exchange through oral and poster presentations in local and overseas conferences
Wong MMC. Update on the Management of Depressive Disorder in Primary care Settings. The Hong Kong Practitioner 2014; 36(1): 12-19
Yeung PY, Wong LL, Chan CC, Leung JLM, Yung CY. A Validation Study of the Hong Kong Version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment (HK-MoCA) in Chinese Older Adults in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Medical Journal 2014; 20(6): 504-510
Mok JWS, Chung KH. Application of DIR/Floortime Model in the Psychiatric Service for Very Young Children with Autism in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Journal of Mental Health 2014; 40(1): 23-30
Wong MMC, Yiu MGC. Consultation-Liaison Service in a Regional Hospital in Hong Kong. East Asian Archives of Psychiatry 2014; 24(2): 51-57
Chung KF, Yeung WF, Yu YM, Yung KP, Zhang SP, Zhang ZJ, Wong MT, Lee WK, Chan LW. Acupuncture for Residual Insomnia with Major Depressive Disorder: a Placebo- and Sham-Controlled Subject- and Assessor-Blind, Randomized trial. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 2015; 76(6): e752-e760
Au A, Gallagher-Thompson D, Wong MK, Leung J, Chan WC, Chan CC, Lu HJ, Lai MK, Chan K. Behavioral Activation for Dementia Caregivers: Scheduling Pleasant Events and Enhancing Communications. Clinical Interventions in Aging 2015; 10:611-619
Wong MMC, Chan CF, Li SW & Lau YM. Six-month Follow-up of Cognitive Impairment and Depressive Symptoms in Late-onset Depression. East Asian Archives of Psychiatry 2015;25:146-9
Wong MMC, Dr P.C. Pan. Blood Monitoring in Patients on Lithium and Valproate. The Online Journal of Clinical Audits. 2015; Vol 7(4).
Li TC. Psychodynamic Factors Behind Online Social Networking and Its Excessive Use. Psychodyn Psychiatry. 2016 Spring;44(1):91-104
Wong MMC, Pang PF, Yiu MGC. Hypochondriacal delusion in an elderly man with good response to electroconvulsive therapy but complicated with febrile reaction. Arch Depress Anxiety (2017) 3(2): 038-041.
Wong MMC, Pang PF, Yiu MGC. Management of common mental disorders for psychogeriatric patients in Hong Kong – a comparison of two clinics. BJPsych Bulletin October 2017, 298.
Wong MMC, Pang PF, Yiu MGC. Management of common mental disorders for psychogeriatric patients in Hong Kong – a comparison of two clinics after 1 year of treatment. BJPsych Bulletin 2018; 89-90.
Wong MMC, Pang PF. Clinical Audit on Cardiac Monitoring in Patients on Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors under the care of Psychogeriatrics Team in Hong Kong. BJPsych Bulletin eletters 23 May 2018.
Wong MMC, Pang PF. Factors Associated with Falls in Psychogeriatric Inpatients and Comparison of Two Fall Risk Assessment Tool. East Asian Archives of Psychiatry 2019; 29:10-4.
Wong MMC, Pang PF. Cognitive Functioning of Ageing Patients with Severe Mental Illess: a Pilot Study. East Asian Archives of Psychiatry 2020;30: 32-33.
Wong MMC & Yiu MGC. Assessment on mental capacity to give consent in general practice - what doctors need to know: who, when and how. HK Pract 2020; 42:38-42
Wong MMC, Pang PF, CF Chan et al. Wilson Sims Fall Risk Assessment Tool Versus Morse Fall Scale in Psychogeriatric Inpatients: a Multicentre Study. East Asian Arch Psychiatry 2021;31:67-70.
Chan KSW, Lai NBW, Wong MMC, Pang PF. As-Required Filgrastim for Late-Onset Neutropenia Complicating Long-Term Clozapine Treatment: a Case Report. East Asian Arch Psychiatry 2023 33(1):28-31.
Joanne S.Y. Ling, Isaac H.H. Wong, Lucy L.W. Tsang, Mimi M.C. Wong, Wai-chung Lam, Edward K.Y. Choi. Validation of the Chinese version of the dimensional obsessive-compulsive scale (DOCS) in Chinese clinical samples. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders 2023 Vol 36 100779
Lok CW, MMC Wong, Yip KW et al. Validation of the traditional Chinese version of the diabetes eating problem survey-revised and study of the prevalence of disordered eating patterns in Chinese patients with type 1 DM. BMC Psychiatry 2023 volume 23, Article number: 382
Matthew Tsz Ho Ho, Joe Kwun Nam Chan, Will Chi Yuen Chiu, Lucy Lo Wah Tsang, Kenneth Shut Wah Chan, Mimi Mei Cheung Wong, Ho Hon Wong, Pui Fai Pang, Wing Chung Chang. Risk of mortality and complications in patients with severe mental illness and co-occurring diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis, European Neuropsychopharmacology, Volume 91, 2024, Pages 25-36
Mimi MC Wong, Ka-lun Kong, Pui-fai Pang. A case of body dysmorphic disorder with pathological skin-picking. HK Pract 2024; 46:24-27
Mimi MC Wong, SH Tsoi, Nora BW Lai, YL Wong, KW Yip, YY Fung, Eugene YK Tso, Ivan WC Mak, CM Chu, PF Pang. Psychiatric morbidity among SARS and COVID-19 survivors at 30 months post-infection. East Asian Arch Psychiatry 2024; 34:103-8 
Tsz Ying Yeung, Mimi MC Wong. Relationships among coping, loneliness, and depression in Chinese older patients with major depressive disorder: a case-control study. East Asian Arch Psychiatry 2025; 35:3-10
Terry KW Chan, Mimi MC Wong. Validating the Traditional Chinese version of the Epilepsy Anxiety Survey Instrument (EASI) in Hong Kong. Front. Neurol. 16:1604317.
Matthew Tsz Ho Ho, Joe Kwun Nam Chan, Heidi Ka Ying Lo, Catherine Zhiqian Fang, Corine Sau Man Wong, Krystal Chi Kei Lee, Wing Chung Chang. Healthcare resource utilization of people with depressive disorder and co-occurring incident diabetes mellitus: A 20-year population-based propensity score-matched cohort study. General Hospital Psychiatry, 2025 ISSN 0163-8343
Ho MTH, Chan JKN, Lo HKY, Fang CZ, Wong CSM, Lee KCK, Lai FTT, Ng APP, Chen KQ, Wong WCW and Chang WC. Risk of mortality and complications in people with depressive disorder and diabetes mellitus: a 20-year population-based propensity score-matched cohort study. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 2025, 92, 10-18.
Ho MTH, Chu RST, Lui TT, Lau FC, Lee EHM, Hui CLM, Chan SKW, Chen EYH and Chang WC. Three-year outcome comparison between extended early intervention and standard psychiatric care for adults with first-episode psychosis in Hong Kong. Psychological Medicine, 2025, 55, e335.
Chris Chit Sze FUNG, Calvin Pak Wing CHENG, Joe Kwun Nam CHAN, Tommy Ho-Fung CHUNG, Allen Ting Chun LEE, Linda Chiu Wa LAM, Pak Chung SHAM, Mei Cheung WONG, Lap Kei CHAN, Adelina Sze Hang TSOI, Yu Ching WONG, Ting Keung POON, Man Chak CHAN, Katrina Tung Yee TSE, Heather Wai Sum LIU, Anson Yan Sou TANG, Sing-Hang CHEUNG, Corine Sau Man WONG, Wing Chung CHANG, Wai Chi CHAN. Excess mortality and life-years lost in older adults with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: A 6-year follow-up case-control study. International Psychogeriatrics, 2026,100196, ISSN 1041-6102
Ho MTH, Chan JKN, Lo HKY, Fang CZ, Wong CSM, Lee KCK, Lai FTT, Ng APP, Wong WCW and Chang WC. Intidepressant and risk of mortality in people with depressive disorder and co-occurring diabetes mellitus: a 20-year population-based cohort study. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 2026, 26:1-17.