Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ13: Waiting time for specialist out-patient service in hospitals
Following is a question by the Ir Dr Hon Ho Chung-tai and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, in the Legislative Council today (April 28):
Question:
It was reported that a patient suffering from a liver tumour died in early March this year, allegedly because he had not been given timely consultation and treatment due to the long waiting time for specialist out-patient service in public hospitals. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(a) the respective average waiting times for the first specialist out-patient appointments for medical, cardiac and oncologic consultations at public hospitals in Hong Kong over the past year;
(b) who determine(s) the waiting time for these first appointments and the determining criteria; and
(c) if the Hospital Authority will put in place a mechanism to shorten the waiting time; if it will, of the details?
Reply:
(a) In 2003-04, the median waiting times for the first appointment of consultation at specialist outpatient clinics operated by the Hospital Authority (HA) were thirteen weeks for internal medicine, eight weeks for cardiology and less than one week for clinical oncology. The actual waiting time for the first appointment at specialist outpatient clinics varies from one patient to another depending on the patient's clinical conditions and on the patient load of the clinic at the time.
(b) Under the revised triage system introduced by the HA recently, specialist outpatient clinics arrange for the first appointment of consultation for new patients on the basis of the urgency of their clinical conditions at the time of referral, taking into account various factors including the patient's clinical history, the presenting symptoms and the findings from physical examination and investigations. Referrals of new patients are usually screened first by a nurse and then by a doctor in the relevant specialty and classified into one of the following categories: Priority one cases for patients with the most urgent medical needs; Priority two cases for patients with comparatively less urgent medical needs; and routine cases for patients where medical needs do not appear to be urgent. In order to ensure that patients with urgent medical needs are attended to within a reasonable time, the HA has targeted to keep the median waiting time for Priority one and two cases within two weeks and within eight weeks respectively. In addition, to ensure that no urgent medical conditions are overlooked at the initial triage, all referrals that have been classified as routine cases would be double-checked by a senior doctor in the relevant specialty within seven working days of the triaging.
(c) The HA will continue to refine the triage system to ensure that patients with urgent medical conditions would be attended to in a timely manner. In particular, the HA will refine the prioritisation criteria to enhance the screening of referral letters by doctors.
Ends/Wednesday, April 28, 2004
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