The officers have mainly suggested introducing supermarket coupon as a comfort gift to replace miscellaneous items, bringing them OffBeat copies, and providing more portable things as on loan welfare items, such as MP3 player.

WSG has been encouraged by the findings of the survey it conducted among officers hospitalised between July 1, 2003 and January 31, 2004 to obtain their views and suggestions on the hospital visit service through anonymous questionnaires.

Apart from making valuable suggestions, 254 out of 271 respondents have overwhelmingly endorsed the visit service, representing a 93.7 per cent endorsement rate. Their words of encouragement and gratitude written on the returned questionnaires will serve as a great incentive for WSG to further improve the service.

Other survey findings show that for visiting staff's attitude, 170 respondents gave a rating of "very good", 74 "good" and eight "acceptable".

As regards visiting staff's ability to address questions, 118 respondents rated "very good", 102 "good" and 21 "acceptable".

The data obtained from the survey revealed that the grades of officers respondents prefer to pay them visits are, in order of priority, welfare staff, Police Welfare Officer, Formation Commander, TSRO and police volunteer.

While generally welcoming welfare staff, the respondents wish for visits by their formation commanders as well, because such visits would allay their anxiety of the unfinished workload during their hospitalisation, and boost team spirit and staff morale.