The establishment of Hong Kong Poison Control Centre (HKPCC) is among one of the specialized centres mentioned in the Chief Executive’s 2022 Policy Address. It involved the integration of current Hospital Authority Toxicology Services (HATS) and the development of a new clinical governance structure. Future HKPCC will be physically located at United Christian Hospital (UCH) and toxicology service will become one of the signature services provided by Kowloon East Cluster (KEC) on a territory wide scale.

HATS is a centrally funded service comprising four clinical units viz., the Hong Kong Poison Information Centre (HKPIC), the Prince of Wales Hospital Poison Treatment Centre (PWHPTC), the Toxicology Reference Laboratory (TRL) and a specialized team from the Chief Pharmacist's Office (CPO) at HA Head Office, with support provided by the Infection, Emergency & Contingency Department (IEC) at HA Head Office. For almost two decades of providing territory-wide toxicology service under this model, individual units functioned according to their role as defined by the WHO model of poison centre service. While individual HATS units contributed their core services as requested, there is always a demand to integrate the HATS under a single unit to strengthened governance, to enhance seamless collaboration in order to pursuit further excellence in service. The HKPCC will better serve the Hong Kong public in poisoning prevention and treatment, furthermore it will better contribute to poison control at the regional, national and worldwide levels.

Besides integration of existing services, new services including Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine (ICWM) Treatment Safety Centre, Drug of Abuse Early Warning Centre, and Antidote Coordination Centre are being planned at this stage. In addition to the existing clinical toxicology services, these new services cover areas including Chinese medicine development, medication safety, drug of abuse surveillance and prevention, antidote stockpiling, and regional poison centres collaboration. These new services will enrich the service scope of HKPCC and fuel future development possibility.

Dr Tse Man Li
Medical Director
November 2023