t takes great powers of observation to notice a problem that has been overlooked for a long time. And it often takes exceptional courage, passion and ability to do something about it.

Since the first day of her nursing career, Ms Becky Chan has paid special attention to the needs and difficulties of her patients. During her early years working in the Intensive Care Unit and the Community Nursing Service, she noticed that bladder and bowel problems were very common among her patients. Later, while she was taking a certificate course in gerontology at the University of Hong Kong, she realised that this problem had been studied in western countries for a long time, and that continence care had already become a specialty service there. So, although she was still a Registered Nurse, she suggested to the nursing administration that United Christian Hospital (UCH) should develop continence care. She also sought support from the nursing administration and took a course in Australia to learn more about continence care, so that she could help in the process.

After returning, she contributed to the continence care service at UCH in a part-time capacity. In 1994, the Hospital established Hong Kong's first Continence Nurse Clinic and opened a Certificate Course in Continence Care. Since then, more than 300 nurses have been trained. Ms Chan, who had worked wholeheartedly for these, was appointed as Nurse Specialist in Continence Care in 1996.

Ms Chan knew that her healthcare colleagues adopted various methods of caring for incontinent patients. For example, some had their own individual ways of handling catheters. She therefore suggested reviewing the guidelines and protocols on incontinence management. In fact, she even "walked the extra mile" by teaching her colleagues how to use different pieces of equipment correctly. She promoted the use of bladder scans in order to reduce the risk of patients getting urinary tract infection. She also helped patients become less dependent on diapers.

In 2009, Ms Chan was appointed as Nurse Consultant (Continence), one of the first nurse consultants in the HA. Under her leadership, and with her team members' collective efforts, continence care at UCH has now been extended to its General Outpatient Clinic. Today, Ms Chan still works hard to enhance the quality of the hospital's continence care service. As she says: "I treat my patients as if they were my family members. I want to reduce their pain as much as possible and keep them healthy." That is indeed a perfect example of part of the HA's new vision, i.e. "Healthy People, Happy Staff".

Sharing her expertise with local and mainland institutions is now part of her job.