Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ11: Specialist out-patient services in United Christian Hospital
Following is a question by the Hon Fred Li and a written reply by the Secretary
for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (January 9):
Question:
I have learnt that the waiting time for new cases in some specialist out-patient
clinics at the United Christian Hospital (UCH) is the longest among the
hospitals under the Hospital Authority (HA), and the rehabilitation services
that UCH provides are also in acute shortage. As a result, each day about 200
patients (most of them being elderly people) in the district have to attend the
Kowloon Hospital for its services on a long-term basis, and this arrangement is
causing much inconvenience to such patients and their family members. In this
connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(a) it knows if HA has drawn up contingency measures to improve the above
situation expeditiously; if contingency measures have been drawn up, of the
details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(b) it has plans to allocate funds to HA for implementing a redevelopment
project for UCH, so as to fully resolve the long-standing problem of inadequate
medical services in its service area; if it has plans, of the details; if not,
the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Hospital Authority (HA) has put in place a triage system at its
specialist out-patient (SOP) clinics to ensure that higher priority for
treatment will be given to those who are in acute medical conditions. Health
care personnel arrange the date of medical appointment for new patients on the
basis of the urgency of their conditions, taking into account various factors
including the patients' clinical history, the presenting symptoms and the
findings from physical examination and investigations. Under the triage system,
new SOP cases are classified into priority 1 (urgent), priority 2 (semi-urgent)
and routine categories. For priority 1 and priority 2 cases, patients would be
given medical attention as soon as possible while the waiting time for patients
with non-urgent conditions would be longer. If a patient's condition
deteriorates before the date of appointment, he may request for an earlier
appointment. If the condition is acute, the patient may also seek immediate
treatment from accident and emergency departments. All cases classified as
routine cases would be reviewed by a senior doctor in the relevant specialty
within seven working days of the initial triage. As at the third quarter of
2007, the median waiting time of first appointment for priority 1 and priority 2
cases of SOP services in the United Christian Hospital (UCH) is within two weeks
and eight weeks respectively, which meet the target set by the HA. As for
non-urgent routine cases, the UCH would endeavour to align with HA's overall
median waiting time. However, the median waiting time for first appointment of
some specialties in the UCH differ from HA's overall median waiting times, that
the median waiting time for first appointment of some specialties may be higher
or lower than HA's overall median waiting time.
As for rehabilitation services, some 300 convalescent beds are provided by the
UCH and the Haven of Hope Hospital, which are also under the Kowloon East (KE)
Cluster. In addition, the Kowloon Hospital, which is a specialist rehabilitation
hospital in the adjacent Kowloon Central Cluster, provides a further 192
convalescent beds for the KE Cluster.
To cope with the increase in service demand in the region of the KE Cluster, the
HA has in 2007-08 provided the KE Cluster with an additional allocation of about
$30 million on top of original provision to implement new service programmes and
initiatives. These programmes and initiatives include the provision of an
ambulatory surgery and ambulatory care centre in the Tseung Kwan O Hospital.
Besides, in order to improve the rehabilitation care for elderly dischargees, a
pilot project will be launched in Kwun Tong district in the first quarter of
2008 to provide integrated discharge support services to elderly dischargees who
have difficulty in taking care of themselves. The KE Cluster also plans to
strengthen the specialist services for treatment of breast cancer and
psychiatric care and to set up an ear, nose and throat specialist centre in the
UCH in 2008-09.
(b) The KE Cluster would regularly review its services in the light of the
demographic changes, growth in service demand and service utilisation; and plan
for its future facilities and services on the basis of service needs. Any
proposed project would be examined within the HA and submitted to the Government
for consideration in accordance with established procedures. At present, the HA
has no plan to redevelop the UCH.
Ends/Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Issued at HKT 11:25
NNNN