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The Hospital Authority runs a similar initiative in Hong Kong—an On the other hand, following these centres’ example, we
Assistive Technology & Accessibility for Independent Living clinic recommend that future gerontech testing platforms in
at the Community Rehabilitation Service Support Centre (CRSSC) Hong Kong allow relevant parties to conduct both product
within Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon (Hospital Authority, evaluation and enhancement for gerontech products in
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2021). CRSSC provides customised advanced technological elderly and rehabilitation service units. In practical terms,
solutions to rehabilitation patients requiring complex equipment, this could mean that after the GT Platform finishes creating the
while also conducting clinical assessments on the effectiveness testing protocols for how to conduct product evaluation testing,
of advanced technologies on patients’ rehabilitation, as well as when they move onto the next stage of actualising the creation of
product development and enhancement via in-house engineers physical testbeds, the GT Platform can expand the purview of the
(CRSSC, 2021). However, one of the challenges that CRSSC face testbed to include product enhancement functions in addition to
is that users living further away, such as in Hong Kong Island or product evaluation functions. The GT Platform can also consider
New Territories, can struggle with arriving to the centre. allowing prototype versions of products, rather than just mature
products, to be tested in these facilities.
Both the NRC and CRSSC demonstrate how advanced
rehabilitation assistive technology centres successfully perform
simultaneous clinical intervention, product assessment,
and product enhancement in the same physical space for
rehabilitation patients requiring advanced care. On the one hand,
we suggest that the Government consider constructing
additional CRSSCs in Hong Kong Island and New Territories
to help users living in those districts to gain more access to
CRSSC services.

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An example of CRSSC clinical interventions is conducting advanced equipment assessment related to what kind of mobility aid is most appropriate for an advanced rehabilitation
patient (Chan, 2021). CRSSC clinicians also conducts clinical research, such as research on breakthrough technology services for non-communicable patients (Shum & Chan, 2019).
CRSSC in-house engineers also do individual product customisation based on patient needs, such as 3D printing of fingerprint moulds for finger-operated machines (Yu, 2021 &
Chan, 2021).
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