Hong Kong's first integrated community center for mental wellness was opened Friday, which can serve 450 patients.

The center provides education, training, counseling and outreach services, and will liaise with the Hong Kong Hospital Authority for urgent medical consultations.

Opening the center Friday, Hong Kong's Secretary for Labor and Welfare Matthew Cheung said a pilot one-stop integrated service was launched in March last year in Tin Shui Wai, the New Territories to enhance support for former mental-illness patients and their carers.

Given the wide public acceptance and support for the new model, he said 70 million HK dollars has been allocated this financial year to expand the integrated service model to all districts.

Also an additional 6 million HK dollars has been set aside to recruit 14 additional psychiatric medical social workers to support the hospital authority's Recovery Support Program for newly discharged psychiatric patients, he added.