Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ17: HA Executive staff

Following is a question by the Hon Lo Wing-lok and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, in the Legislative Council today (March 5):

Question:

It is learnt that the Hospital Authority ("HA") has recently promoted three of its staff to Senior Executive Managers and recruited one Deputy Director, whose ranks are equivalent to D1 to D3 of the Directorate Pay Scale for Civil Service. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:

(a) the duties and terms of employment (including salaries, fringe benefits and duration of contract) of the four executive staff;

(b) the contributions they will make to the medical service provided by HA and whether there are objective indicators to gauge their contributions; and

(c) HA's rationale and criteria for promoting and recruiting senior executive staff in the face of severe fiscal deficit and resource constraints?

Reply:

Since the establishment of the Hospital Authority (HA) in 1991, HA's management has vigorously undertaken a series of measures to streamline its management functions and enhance its productivity. Over the years, the number of senior executives in the top two tiers of HA Head Office has been reduced significantly (from 18 in 1992 to the existing six) through merging of work portfolios among senior executives. There are currently five Divisions, with each Division headed by a Director reporting to the Chief Executive. At present, there are four Directors and one Director post is vacant.

Given that staff cost accounts for 80 per cent of HA's total expenditure, HA intends to conduct a comprehensive review on its human resource policies and staff remuneration packages to explore further opportunities for optimising the use of its resources. HA's remuneration system and practices would need to be overhauled taking into account the overall priorities and objectives of the organisation. Following the grade reviews of the medical profession, nurses and pharmacists, HA will proceed to conduct grade reviews for other allied health grades to ensure that the mix and core competences of HA staff are in line with the organisational and service needs. To tackle all these urgent and important tasks, HA decided to strengthen its human resources management at the third-tier level by recruiting a Deputy Director (Human Resources) on November 25, 2002. (In this regard, the Director of a Division may be supported by a Deputy Director where appropriate and justified.) The Deputy Director is employed on contract terms for three years with a cash package of around $1.8 million per annum (including 15 per cent contract gratuity and mandatory provident fund). Fringe benefits include 25 days of annual leave, free medical benefits, and other employee's benefits (such as sick leave) as provided for under the prevailing HA human resource policies. This Deputy Director will be responsible for formulating a comprehensive human resource strategy for HA, and facilitating service reorganisation/redevelopment at the cluster/hospital level to tie in with organisational development. He will lead the human resource functions of HA both at the corporate and cluster/hospital levels.

HA has not promoted three of its staff as Senior Executive Managers. Following a recent review of the remuneration of HA's senior executives, the HA Board decided to rationalise the existing ranks of Senior Executive Manager (Professional Services) and Executive Manager (Professional Services), and merge the two ranks into a new rank. Such a development is in line with the trend in human resource policies worldwide which advocates delayering. Accordingly, the pay scales of Executive Manager (Professional Services) and Senior Executive Manager (Professional Services) have been merged, similar to the practice adopted for revising the pay scale in 2000 under the Medical Grade Reform for clinical specialists (consultants). The cash package of the merged rank ranges from $2.1 million to $2.6 million a year (including cash allowance and retirement benefit at 15 per cent of basic salary). Fringe benefits include 21-28 days of annual leave, free medical benefits, and other employee's benefits as provided for under the prevailing HA human resource policies. The duties of the Executive Manager/Senior Executive Manager (Professional Services) rank include supporting management reforms at both the corporate and cluster/hospital levels, monitoring and evaluating the quality of service delivered to the public, liaising with other health service organisations and carers in the community to promote seamless healthcare and community partnership, coordinating the development of clinical and professional services, providing professional input in the development of non-clinical areas and assisting in the management of professional grades. In line with good human resource policies and HA's established practice, advancement to the next pay point in the merged pay scale has to be subject to individual merits and is not automatic. The performance of the staff concerned will need to be assessed by HA senior management before approval is given for an officer to advance to the next pay point. For the three staff in question, they have been assessed to be suitable for advancement to the next pay point in the merged pay scale.

End/Wednesday, March 5, 2003
NNNN