Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ5: Appointment of senior officers by HA

        Following is a question by the Dr 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 (April 21):

 

Question:

 

        The Administration informed this Council on March 17 that the Hospital Authority (HA) had transferred to the other two Directors the professional services responsibilities of the post of Director (Professional Services and Human Resources).  However, HA announced on March 30 the cancellation of the above arrangement, and the transfer of the incumbent Director (Professional Services and Public Affairs) to the above post with effect from April 1.  With regard to HA's staff planning for the work on human resources and public affairs, and the specification of responsibilities of senior management staff, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

 

(a)    the respective total numbers of senior staff responsible for the work on human resources and public affairs in the headquarters of HA, hospital clusters and public hospitals at present, as well as their responsibilities and the total expenditures on the remuneration and benefits respectively;

 

(b)    if HA has assessed the need to have one Director and one Deputy Director concurrently for undertaking the work on human resources, given that the incumbent Deputy Director (Human Resources) who assumed duty on November 25, 2002 was appointed for a period of three years; if the assessment result confirms the need, the justifications for that; if the assessment result shows otherwise, whether HA has terminated the employment contract with the above Deputy Director prematurely; if it has, the time of such termination and the amount of compensation involved; and

 

(c)    the criteria and rules adopted by HA in determining the addition, deletion and merging of senior management posts, and in specifying the responsibilities of these senior staff?

 

Reply:

 

Madam President,

 

        In recruiting the Director (Human Resources), the Hospital Authority (HA) Board was open to considering both external and internal candidates.  After a careful and thorough selection process, the Selection Panel considered that Dr Ko Wing-man, former Director (Professional Services & Public Affairs) is the most suitable candidate to fill the post.  The professional services portfolio of the previous three Directors will continue to be shared between Dr Ko and the Director (Professional Services & Medical Development).   

 

(a)    At present, a total of two senior officers (see note) are responsible for the work on human resources at the HA Head Office.  They are the Director (Professional Services & Human Resources) and the Deputy Director (Human Resources).  The total value of their remuneration and benefits package is around five million dollars per year. 

 

        With the former Director (Professional Services & Public Affairs) taking up the post of Director (Professional Services & Human Resources) with effect from April 1, 2004, there is not any dedicated senior officer at HA Head Office overseeing the public affairs function at the present moment.  This function is now being shared by all senior officers in the Head Office with the assistance of fourteen Information Officer grade staff.  The HA is planning to conduct a recruitment exercise in the near future to fill the vacancy of the Deputy Director (Public Affairs) post, which has been left vacant since early 2000, to augment the leadership and expertise needed in the development and implementation of public relations and communications strategies, policies and practices.

       

        At the cluster and hospital levels, no senior officers are specifically designated for the human resources or public affairs functions.  The responsibility for overseeing these functions rests with the Cluster Chief Executives and Hospital Chief Executives.

 

(b)    Having reviewed HA's top management structure recently, the HA Board concluded that there is an urgent need to strengthen its human resource management function, particularly in view of the recommendations of the SARS Expert Committee Report and the Report of the HA Review Panel on the SARS Outbreak that various aspects of human resources management should be improved, including communication with staff, co-ordination and deployment of human resources during an outbreak and staff training. 

 

        Considering HA's size and the complexity of its organisation, and that there are both generic human resource issues as well as specific human resource issues pertaining to the medical professionals that need to be tackled, the HA Board considers that there is a need for a directorate team comprising the new Director (Professional Services & Human Resources), with his medical and senior managerial background, and the Deputy Director (Human Resources), with his professional background, to undertake the work on human resources.

 

(c)    The HA Board, assisted by its Staff Committee, regularly reviews the structure of the senior management team of the HA Head Office taking into account operational needs and development of the organisation.  The matters covered by these reviews include the addition, deletion and merger of senior executive posts as well as the delineation of their roles and responsibilities. 

 

Note: All references to "senior officers" in this reply mean officers with responsibilities remunerated at a level comparable to those of directorate officers in the civil service.

 

Ends/Wednesday, April 21, 2004

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