Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ2: Ambulance service

Following is a question by the Hon Chan Kam-lam and a reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (June 30):

Question:

Under existing arrangements, if Hong Kong residents who are taken ill or injured on the Mainland wish to be transferred by ambulances back to Hong Kong for treatment, prior coordination has to be made between the medical personnel in Hong Kong and on the Mainland before they travel in mainland ambulances to the boundary control points where they change to travel in Hong Kong ambulances to the hospitals. Some members of the public have pointed out that while it takes only some 10-odd minutes to change from one ambulance to another, the movement may aggravate the conditions of the patients and even delay treatment. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)it knows the number of cases of Hong Kong residents being transferred by ambulances from the Mainland back to Hong Kong for treatment in each of the past five years;

(b)it has assessed the impact caused by the transfer from one ambulance to another on the conditions of the persons concerned; and

(c)the authorities will consider introducing a pilot scheme in the Pearl River Delta cities to allow mainland hospitals to transfer in ambulances Hong Kong residents who are taken ill or injured direct to the hospitals in Hong Kong for treatment?

Reply:

President,

(a) and (b)The Hospital Authority (HA) mainly provides medical services for the public in Hong Kong. It does not provide patient transfer service across the border.

Hong Kong residents who are injured or suffering from an acute illness in the Mainland and require ambulance service upon returning to Hong Kong may call the Immigration Department's hotline at 1868 to make the request. They may also request assistance from the officers of border control points upon arrival or call the hotline at 999 to seek help during emergency. The departments will strive to provide assistance. Based on the established arrangement between the Fire Services Department (FSD) and HA, ambulances will transfer the residents from the control points to the Accident and Emergency Department of a nearby HA hospital for treatment. According to the figures provided by FSD, over 70% of the calls made at control points in 2008 and 2009 were from the Lok Ma Chau and Lo Wu control points and the patients were transferred to North District Hospital for treatment. The remaining calls were mainly from the Shenzhen Bay control point and the patients were transferred to Tuen Mun Hospital for treatment.

According to the information provided by FSD, the numbers of transfer of patients by ambulances from border control points to HA hospitals in the past five years and the first four months of this year are set out below:

2005                                 5,411 cases
2006                                 5,220 cases
2007                                 5,833 cases
2008                                 5,950 cases
2009                                 5,736 cases
January to April 2010       2,033 cases

Patients transferred from the Mainland to Hong Kong are mostly in stable condition. In general, their condition would not be significantly affected as they change from one ambulance to another at the control points.

(c)HA has been maintaining exchanges and cooperation with the health authority of Shenzhen in different aspects of hospital services. Both sides have discussed the strengthening of communication between hospitals in the two places for transfer of patients, and the arrangements to facilitate referral of Hong Kong residents from the Mainland to public hospitals in Hong Kong for further treatment. Both sides have initially agreed to implement the transfer of patient records on a pilot basis. The idea is that designated hospitals in Shenzhen and Hong Kong will work in coordination. When a Hong Kong resident in a designated hospital in Shenzhen requests to be transferred to Hong Kong for treatment, the hospital in Shenzhen will pass the patient's information, clinical history and medication record to the designated hospital under HA to facilitate direct liaison between medical personnel in the two places for follow-up on the patient's case. HA initially considers selecting the North District Hospital and Tuen Mun Hospital as the designated hospitals under the arrangement. At the present stage, the abovementioned arrangement for transfer of patient record will only be applicable to patients on a voluntary basis and who are in stable condition. HA is working with the relevant departments in Shenzhen to finalise the detailed arrangements for the transfer of patient record. It is expected that the arrangement could be piloted before the end of this year.

Besides, Hong Kong residents living in the Mainland may also seek specialist consultation in public hospitals/clinics in Hong Kong upon referral by a Mainland doctor. As for direct transfer of patients from the Mainland to Hong Kong, given that the present arrangement is able to cope with the demand in general, and that the introduction of direct transfer service would involve complicated issues such as regulation of cross-boundary vehicle and ambulance service, the Administration has no plan to pilot such service at the present stage. The Administration will however continue to monitor closely the utilisation of cross-boundary transfer service of patients.


Ends/Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Issued at HKT 12:49

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