Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ9:Provision of services and manpower in public hospitals
Following is a question by the Hon Law Chi-kwong and a written reply by the
Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, in the Legislative
Council today (March 12):
Question:
Regarding the provision of services and the manpower in public hospitals, will
the Government inform this Council :
(a) of the forecast of the following figures at the end of this and each of the
coming three fiscal years : the number of staff members in each rank of the
medical, nursing and allied health grades, the number of beds, the ratio of beds
to population and the ratio of beds to manpower of health care personnel;
(b) how the above figures compare to the actual figures concerned in each of the
past three fiscal years; and
(c) whether it has assessed if the standard of health care services provided by
public hospitals will be compromised due to a reduction in health care personnel
in the coming three fiscal years; if it has, of the details?
Reply:
(a) and (b)The international trend has been to focus on the development of
ambulatory and community care programmes and to replace, where appropriate,
in-patient treatment by ambulatory and out-patient services. Such development
has been made possible following the advances in medical technology. Hospital
Authority (HA) has in recent years stepped up its developments on day surgery,
day care, out-patient services, community nursing and outreach programmes. In
response to this shift to day community care, HA plans to adjust inpatient
general beds in order to rationalise its service provision. The change in the
service delivery model has also resulted in different staffing levels as well as
staff mix for the clinical staff workforce.
The requested manpower and bed statistics from 1999/2000 to 2003/04 are set out
below :
| 1999/2000 (Actual) |
2000/01 (Actual) |
2001/02 (Actual) |
2002/03 (Estimate) |
2003/04* (Estimate) |
|
| Doctors | 3 674 | 3 895 | 4 105 | 4 279 | 4 587 |
| Nurses | 17 335 | 18 230 | 19 289 | 19 515 | 19 485 |
| Allied Health Professionals | 4 458 | 4 527 | 4 637 | 4 710 | 4 902 |
| Beds as at end March | 28 517 | 28 877 | 29 022 | 29 288 | 28 088 |
| Beds per 1 000 population |
4.25 | 4.24 | 4.22 | 4.23 | 4.01 |
| Staff per bed | |||||
| - Doctors | 0.13 | 0.13 | 0.14 | 0.15 | 0.16 |
| - Nurses | 0.61 | 0.63 | 0.66 | 0.67 | 0.69 |
| - Allied health professionals | 0.16 | 0.16 | 0.16 | 0.16 | 0.17 |
Notes:
- All staff members (permanent, contract and temporary terms) are included in
the reported figures on full-time equivalent basis.
- Doctors refer to consultants, senior medical officers/associate
consultants/medical officers/residents.
- Nurses refer to qualified nurses.
* Staffing position includes staff to be transferred from the Department of
Health to the Hospital Authority upon the transfer of General Out-patient
Clinics (GOPCs) scheduled for July 2003.
HA has yet to work out its plan on the number of beds and manpower requirements
for the years beyond 2003/04.
(c) In 2003/04, HA is able to maintain the clinical staff workforce through
stringent saving measures in other areas, such as continued reduction of
managerial and supporting staff, and re-engineering business support initiatives
in procurement and supplies, catering, laundry, etc. Through cluster-based and
territory-wide service rationalisation programmes, HA will continue to
re-engineer service provision to cater for the increasing needs of the
population despite resource constraints. All these measures help to ensure that
service quality will not be compromised.
End/Wednesday, March 12, 2003
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