Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ9: Accident and emergency services of public hospitals

Following is a question by the Hon Cyd Ho and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, in the Legislative Council today (March 24):

Question :

With effect from November 29, 2002, the Hospital Authority (HA) has charged each patient $100 for each attendance at the accident and emergency (A&E) departments of public hospitals. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

(a) the number of persons who used the A&E services of public hospitals each month since the introduction of the charges up to the end of February this year, broken down by triage category (i.e. critical, emergency, urgent, semi-urgent, non-urgent and unclassified), as well as their respective percentages in the total number of persons who used such services;

(b) the average waiting time for the relevant services in each month of the above period;

(c) the total amount of A&E service charges collected by HA during this period and the respective sums of revenue apportioned to the Government and HA; and

(d) the uses of the revenue mentioned in part (c) above; if such sums have not been wholly used for provision of medical services, whether the authorities will consider requiring the relevant sums to be used for such purpose?

Reply:

Madam President:

(a) The number of attendances at the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department in public hospitals broken down by the triage category, together with their respective percentages as compared with the total number of attendances in the same month, are shown in the Annex.

(b) The average waiting times by triage category in the first twelve months from the introduction of A&E charges (i.e. from December 2002 to November 2003) are as follows -

Triage Category Minutes

1 Critical 0

2 Emergency 5

3 Urgent 16

4 Semi-urgent 48

5 Non-urgent 75

Average 42

(c) & (d) In line with established resource allocation practice, the annual requirement of the Hospital Authority (HA) has generally been met by the provision of subvention by the Government and HA's income from various sources, including medical charges. With the introduction of A&E charges on November 29, 2002, the Government agreed with HA the exceptional arrangement that HA would, in addition to the resources allocated having regard to its annual requirement, be able to retain half of the A&E charges collected for the provision of health care services. The total amount of A&E charges retained by HA under this arrangement between November 29, 2002 and February 29, 2004 amounted to $79.8 million.

Ends/Wednesday, March 24, 2004

NNNN

Month

Critical

Emergency

Urgent

Semi-

urgent

Non-

urgent

Un-

classified

Total

Dec 02

1,572

(0.9%)

3,493

(2.0%)

46,218

(26.1%)

107,802

(60.9%)

17,239

(9.7%)

653

(0.4%)

176,977

Jan 03

1,732

(1.0%)

3,898

(2.2%)

48,060

(26.6%)

108,137

(59.8%)

18,025

(10.0%)

942

(0.5%)

180,794

Feb03

1,348

(0.8%)

3,498

(2.0%)

43,987

(25.3%)

104,007

(59.8%)

20,277

(11.7%)

861

(0.5%)

173,978

Mar 03

1,420

(0.7%)

3,555

(1.8%)

45,110

(23.2%)

111,889

(57.6%)

30,860

(15.9%)

1,405

(0.7%)

194,239

Apr 03

1,301

(1.1%)

2,410

(2.1%)

29,001

(24.7%)

69,379

(59.1%)

14,751

(12.6%)

610

(0.5%)

117,452

May 03

1,316

(1.3%)

2,293

(2.2%)

28,020

(26.7%)

64,674

(61.7%)

7,957

(7.6%)

510

(0.5%)

104,770

Jun 03

1,236

(1.1%)

2,322

(2.0%)

30,787

(26.2%)

73,888

(62.9%)

8,619

(7.3%)

544

(0.5%)

117,396

Jul 03

1,264

(0.9%)

2,676

(1.8%)

36,957

(25.5%)

91,149

(62.8%)

12,458

(8.6%)

547

(0.4%)

145,051

Aug 03

1,246

(0.8%)

2,637

(1.8%)

38,571

(26.0%)

93,639

(63.0%)

11,748

(7.9%)

694

(0.5%)

148,535

Sep 03

1,249

(0.8%)

2,735

(1.8%)

39,965

(25.8%)

95,599

(61.8%)

14,177

(9.2%)

951

(0.6%)

154,676

Oct 03

1,321

(0.8%)

2,847

(1.8%)

41,063

(26.0%)

96,179

(61.0%)

14,094

(8.9%)

2,135

(1.4%)

157,639

Nov 03

1,320

(0.9%)

2,915

(1.9%)

39,558

(25.8%)

94,264

(61.4%)

13,395

(8.7%)

1,975

(1.3%)

153,427

Dec 03

1,588

(1.0%)

3,223

(2.0%)

42,832

(25.9%)

98,770

(59.8%)

16,023

(9.7%)

2,688

(1.6%)

165,124

Jan 04

1,635

(1.1%)

3,212

(2.1%)

40,695

(26.2%)

95,343

(61.4%)

12,662

(8.1%)

1,851

(1.2%)

155,398

Feb 04

1,605

(1.0%)

2,987

(1.9%)

40,400

(26.0%)

95,514

(61.5%)

12,392

(8.0%)

2,329

(1.5%)

155,227

Legislative Council Question 9

Annex