Why do Hongkongers need doctor’s referral to see a physiotherapist? Debate rages ahead of proposed changes to healthcare law
- Physiotherapists and doctors clash over allowing patients to decide on treatment without referrals
- Risk of delay in diagnosing serious illness if patients go directly to physiotherapists, doctors warn
A debate over the right of patients to see primary healthcare professionals such as physiotherapists without a doctor’s referral is shaping up as a thorny issue for Hong Kong’s new administration.
Physiotherapists and patients’ rights campaigners said doing away with doctors’ referrals would empower patients, give them swifter access to treatment and rejuvenate the primary care sector.
But doctors – especially orthopaedic surgeons – have warned that such a move could put patients at risk if it delayed diagnosing their serious health conditions.
The two sides locked horns over the issue for years before a primary healthcare reform package proposed by physiotherapists was rejected in 2019.
But their disagreement resurfaced after former city leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor indicated in last year’s policy address that there was a need to amend the law to “allow patients to have direct access to healthcare professional services (e.g. physiotherapy and occupational therapy) without a doctor’s referral so as to avoid delay in treatment”.
After internal meetings in a working group, the opposing parties appeared to have narrowed their differences to one key issue – whether direct access to physiotherapists should be allowed only if the patient had a pre-existing diagnosis by a doctor.
More recently, the city’s new administration signalled it intended to press ahead with primary care reforms, which could include amending the Supplementary Medical Professions Ordinance covering physiotherapists, occupational therapists and radiographers, among others.