TY - CHAP
T1 - Family Doctor for All—Towards the Family-Oriented Approach in Primary Healthcare Practice
AU - Shih, Yuki Wing Yan
AU - Yu, James Wai Ming
AU - Fong, Ben Yuk Fai
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Family doctors are the key players in primary healthcare. They are widely recognised as the first contact for all health needs and provide comprehensive and continuing care to the community. The Hong Kong Government introduced the Primary Healthcare Blueprint in 2022, established the Primary Healthcare Commission in 2024, and will promote “Family Doctor for All”. However, there are gaps in the training of family doctors, who not only consider the healthcare needs of individual patients but also their family members during medical consultations, diagnosis and treatment. The family-oriented approach in primary healthcare can be developed through the enforcement of policies in promoting the concept of family doctors to the public, encouraging more family doctors to register with the Primary Care Directory, broadening the range of healthcare services provided by family doctors, improving the quality and training of family doctors and allocating more resources to attract more young doctors to engage in the discipline of family medicine. Benefits of family-oriented approach in primary healthcare practices include better disease management, earlier detection of chronic diseases, closer relationship between patient and doctor and improvement of the overall health of people. However, there are also limitations in this approach such as issues of confidentiality, burden to family members, conflicts among family members, etc. This chapter focuses on a discussion about the current situation, the development of family medicine and family-oriented approach in primary healthcare.
AB - Family doctors are the key players in primary healthcare. They are widely recognised as the first contact for all health needs and provide comprehensive and continuing care to the community. The Hong Kong Government introduced the Primary Healthcare Blueprint in 2022, established the Primary Healthcare Commission in 2024, and will promote “Family Doctor for All”. However, there are gaps in the training of family doctors, who not only consider the healthcare needs of individual patients but also their family members during medical consultations, diagnosis and treatment. The family-oriented approach in primary healthcare can be developed through the enforcement of policies in promoting the concept of family doctors to the public, encouraging more family doctors to register with the Primary Care Directory, broadening the range of healthcare services provided by family doctors, improving the quality and training of family doctors and allocating more resources to attract more young doctors to engage in the discipline of family medicine. Benefits of family-oriented approach in primary healthcare practices include better disease management, earlier detection of chronic diseases, closer relationship between patient and doctor and improvement of the overall health of people. However, there are also limitations in this approach such as issues of confidentiality, burden to family members, conflicts among family members, etc. This chapter focuses on a discussion about the current situation, the development of family medicine and family-oriented approach in primary healthcare.
KW - Family doctors
KW - Family medicine
KW - Family-oriented approach
KW - Primary healthcare
KW - Universal health coverage
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105002345609
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/28ea5917-f89e-3b9b-9669-d8eacc8b6cee/
U2 - 10.1007/978-981-96-0817-1_12
DO - 10.1007/978-981-96-0817-1_12
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:105002345609
T3 - Quality of Life in Asia
SP - 169
EP - 189
BT - Quality of Life in Asia
PB - Springer
ER -