Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ10: Accident and Emergency services of public hospitals
Following is a question by the Dr Hon Leung Ka-lau and a written reply
by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative
Council today (May 29):
Question:
In connection with the statistics on the services of the accident and
emergency (A&E) departments of public hospitals for the year 2012-2013
(or, if such data are not available, statistics from January to December
2012), will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(a) a breakdown of the average waiting time of patients by hospitals,
A&E triage categories and the following six time slots (set out in a
table of the same format as Table 1 for each time slot):
(i) from midnight to 8 am on weekdays;
(ii) from 8 am to 4 pm on weekdays;
(iii) from 4 pm to midnight on weekdays;
(iv) from midnight to 8 am on public holidays;
(v) from 8 am to 4 pm on public holidays; and
(vi) from 4 pm to midnight on public holidays;
(b) a breakdown of the numbers of attendances by hospitals, A&E triage
categories and the time slots referred to in (a) (set out in a table of
the same format as Table 1 for each time slot);
(c) the average numbers of doctors (broken down further according to the
categories of doctors in Table 2) and nurses working in A&E departments,
broken down by hospitals and the time slots referred to in (a) (set out
in a table of the same format as Table 2 for each time slot);
(d) the numbers of part-time doctors and part-time nurses working in A&E
departments, their total numbers of working hours and total
remunerations, broken down by hospitals (set out in Table 3); and
(e) a breakdown by hospital of the numbers of doctors and nurses working
in A&E departments who had worked overtime, their total hours of
overtime work and total remunerations for overtime work (set out in a
table of the same format as Table 3)?
Reply:
President,
Accident and Emergency (A&E) services are mainly provided at 16 public
hospitals under the Hospital Authority (HA). They deliver a high
standard of service for critically ill or injured persons who need
urgent medical attention. They also provide medical support for victims
of disasters. HA has adopted a triage system which classifies patients
attending the A&E departments into five categories according to their
clinical conditions so as to ensure that patients with more serious
conditions are accorded higher priority in medical treatment. To meet
the surging demand for A&E services, HA has adopted a number of measures
to augment healthcare manpower. Such measures include implementing a
pilot scheme to recruit additional staff, introducing special honorarium
scheme (SHS) to attract doctors to work extra service sessions for A&E
departments, recruiting non-local doctors under limited registration,
appointing part-time doctors, and strengthening phlebotomist services
and clerical support.
The statistical figures pertaining to the A&E services of HA are set out
in the tables provided by the Member in Annex.
(a) The overall average waiting time of patients in A&E departments of
HA hospitals by triage categories is listed in Table 4.
(b) The breakdown of the total number of attendances of A&E departments
of various HA hospitals in 2012-13 (provisional figures) is listed in
Table 5.
(c) The numbers of doctors and nurses in A&E departments under HA as at
March 31, 2013 are listed in Table 6.
Since the actual shift periods of doctors and nurses in A&E departments
vary according to the conditions and operational needs of different
hospitals, HA does not have a breakdown of the numbers of doctors and
nurses working in different shift periods.
(d) The distribution of part-time doctors and part-time nurses recruited
to A&E specialty in hospitals under HA as at March 31, 2013 is listed in
Table 7.
The expenditure on remuneration for part-time doctors and part-time
nurses recruited to A&E specialty in 2012-13 is listed in Table 8.
(e) In 2012-13, a total of 316 A&E doctors and 417 A&E nurses worked
extra service sessions in A&E departments, and the expenditure on
overtime allowance/remuneration for overtime work performed by A&E
doctors and nurses in HA hospitals amounted to about $29 million. The
breakdown by hospital is listed in Table 9.
Moreover, HA has implemented a pilot scheme since February 2013 to
recruit additional medical and nursing staff, in order to alleviate the
work pressure in A&E departments and improve A&E services. The
recruitment targets are permanent and contract full-time medical and
nursing staff currently serving in HA. The scheme is piloted in 12
hospitals. As at the end of April this year, there were a total of 191
doctors and 542 nurses taking part in the scheme, providing 595
consultation periods/sessions (each extra consultation period/session
lasts for four hours). Details of the distribution are listed in Table
10.
As the scheme is still on pilot run, the total expenditure on
remuneration is unavailable at this stage.
Ends/Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Issued at HKT 17:55
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