Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ15: Manpower of nursing staff in public hospitals
Following is a question by the Hon Lau Kong-wah and a written reply by the
Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council
today (March 28):
Question:
Regarding the manpower of nursing staff in public hospitals, will the Government
inform this Council whether it knows:
(a) the respective year-end numbers of nursing staff of various ranks in public
hospitals and the respective numbers of those who departed, in each of the past
three years;
(b) if the Hospital Authority (HA) has assessed the seriousness of wastage of
nursing staff in public hospitals and looked into the reasons for departure;
(c) if HA has reviewed the adequacy of the nurse-to-patient ratios in public
hospitals, and how the ratios compare with those in developed countries in
Europe and America; and
(d) the measures, apart from employing new nurses to fill the vacancies, HA has
put in place to reduce the wastage of nursing staff?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The actual year-end numbers of nursing staff of various ranks in public
hospitals under the Hospital Authority (HA) and the numbers of those who left
the HA, in each of the past three years, are set out at the Annex.
(b) The wastage rate of the HA's nursing staff in 2005-06 was about 2.1%,
whereas the overall wastage rate of the HA in the same year was 3.8%. As
revealed by the departing nurses in their exit interviews with the HA, nearly
half of them left their jobs because of family or personal reasons, such as
needing to look after their families, taking a career break or starting their
own business. Other reasons for departure include career change, health reasons,
retirement or further study.
(c) Depending on the types of service (for example, acute care or ambulatory
care), the extent of medical attention are distinctively different, resulting in
different levels of demand in nursing manpower. Internationally, staffing
arrangements vary under different health care systems due to different modes of
service delivery, and hence at present there is no single set of
universally-accepted international standards on nurse-to-patient ratio that can
be used for benchmarking.
(d) The HA has adopted a number of measures to reduce the wastage of nursing
staff.
Firstly, the HA will alleviate the workload of nurses. The HA has engaged
supporting staff and undergraduate nursing students on temporary terms to assist
nurses in clinical departments, and will employ additional ward stewards to
relieve nursing staff of their clerical work. Moreover, the HA has introduced
flexible continuous night shift, to reduce the frequency of night shifts for
nurses. The HA will also offer better employment package to attract more
part-time nurses to work in the HA.
On the other hand, the HA will offer permanent appointments to eligible nursing
staff. As for professional development and training, the HA is now providing a
two-year structured preceptorship scheme to freshly graduated nurses, as well as
training subsidy for registered nurses and enrolled nurses to take conversion
programmes. The HA will also provide opportunities for nursing staff to study
advanced or professional training programmes.
Ends/Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Issued at HKT 15:19
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Attachment:
Table to LCQ15