Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ13: Work hours of doctors

Following is a question by the Dr Hon Kwok Ka-ki and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung (in the absence of Secretary for Food and Health), in the Legislative Council today (May 14):

Question:

It has been learnt that in response to the lawsuit on overtime work filed by doctors in public hospitals, the Hospital Authority (HA) has set up the Steering Committee on Doctor Work Hour, which has put forward a series of reform recommendations in respect of the working hours of doctors. HA will implement the recommendations in all public hospitals by phases and a number of pilot programmes have been launched in seven hospitals in four hospital clusters (namely, Kowloon West, Hong Kong East, Kowloon East and New Territories East) starting from the end of 2007. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a) it knows the method by which the Committee calculates that the average working hours of doctors should not exceed 65 hours per week;

(b) it knows the progress in implementing the various recommendations put forward by the Committee in different hospital clusters and the difficulties encountered;

(c) it has allocated additional resources to HA to implement such recommendations; and

(d) it knows if HA has assessed the respective amounts of money involved each year in the event that HA has to compensate those doctors who had worked more than 65 hours or 44 hours per week in the past three years; if an assessment has been made, of the outcome?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) The recommendation that the average weekly work hours of doctors should not exceed 65 hours was made by the Steering Committee on Doctor Work Hour (Steering Committee) after its review on the work hour pattern of doctors in Hong Kong and extensive consultation on the matter. For example, to solicit views and suggestions in respect of the ceiling on average weekly work hours of doctors, the Steering Committee has issued a consultation paper to 4,500 public hospital doctors and conducted rounds of open consultations. Briefings were also arranged for members of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine and exchanges made with health care professionals, etc. In making the recommendation that the average weekly work hours of doctors should not exceed 65 hours, the Steering Committee has taken into consideration factors such as overall service demand, patient safety, resources available and manpower supply, and the principle of not interrupting the continuous training of doctors.

(b) To take forward the reform recommendations made by the Steering Committee, the Hospital Authority (HA) introduced a series of initiatives starting from the end of 2007, which included: (i) setting up Emergency Medicine wards in eight hospitals (Caritas, Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth, Pok Oi, Tuen Mun, Prince of Wales, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern and Ruttonjee Hospital); (ii) expanding service capacity of the operating theatres in evening sessions to regulate the activities and workload at night-time at four hospitals (Caritas, United Christian, Yan Chai and North District Hospital); (iii) employing and training more Technical Services Assistants (Clinical Assistants) in five hospitals (including Caritas, Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole, Princess Margaret, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern and Yan Chai Hospital) to provide 24-hour services on blood taking, electrocardiogram and indwelling venous catheter, etc, so as to relieve the workload of doctors and nurses; and (iv) continuing to recruit more part-time doctors in various hospitals to help provide out-patient and other clinical services, thereby sharing the workload of front-line doctors. HA will implement the related initiatives in other hospitals under various hospital clusters according to its Annual Plan for the year and assess their effectiveness.

In the course of implementation of these initiatives, the hospital clusters concerned had to deal with certain issues, including recruitment of staff, coordination among departments to adapt to new initiatives and the lead time for training.

(c) HA has set aside $31 million and $77 million respectively from the recurrent funding from the Government in 2007-08 and 2008-09 for implementing a number of pilot programmes relating to doctor work reform. In 2008-09, 348 posts including the posts for doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and other supporting staff will be created for these pilot programmes. Besides, 47 newly recruited doctors will be deployed to work in specialties that require longer working hours in order to alleviate the workload of frontline health care personnel.

(d) As the legal proceedings in respect of the working hours of doctors is still in progress and both parties to the litigation have already lodged an appeal to the Court of Final Appeal, it is not appropriate for HA to comment on this question.


Ends/Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Issued at HKT 12:58

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