Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ17: North Lantau Hospital

Following is a question by the Dr Hon Kwok Ka-ki and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (November 13):

Question:

The North Lantau Hospital came into operation in September this year. Recently, I have received complaints from Tung Chung residents that the service hours of the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department of the hospital are too short and there are too few specialties providing outpatient services at the hospital, thus failing to meet their needs, and that the ancillary transport facilities to and from the hospital are also inadequate. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) as the Hospital Authority (HA) has indicated that the service hours of the A&E Department of the hospital will be extended in phases from eight hours a day (9am to 5pm) at present to round the clock, whether the Government knows the latest implementation timetable and plan for the various phases; as well as the medical staff and other resources required for the implementation of the various phases;

(b) apart from maintaining the evening General Outpatient Clinic service of the hospital until 11.45pm from Monday to Friday, whether the Government knows if HA has other plans to ensure that residents on Lantau Island can receive treatment late at night before round-the-clock A&E service is available at the hospital; if HA has such plans, of the details of the various plans; if not, the reasons for that;

(c) as HA has indicated that the specialist outpatient services of the hospital will be extended in phases from the existing two specialty services (Medicine and Psychiatry) to include surgery, orthopaedics and traumatology, paediatrics and gynaecology, whether the Government knows the latest implementation timetable and plan for the various phases; as well as the medical staff and other resources required for the implementation of the various phases; and

(d) as the only means of public transport to and from the hospital available at present are taxis and New Lantao Bus Routes 37 and 38, which pass the hospital en route but are often full, whether the authorities have any plan to introduce services of franchised buses and green minibuses travelling between the hospital and various places on Lantau Island, including Tung Chung MTR station, Tai O and Mui Wo; if they have such a plan, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

Opening a new hospital for public use is a complicated exercise requiring assembling a large number of professionals with different backgrounds to work together in a new environment. Taking into account such co-ordinating efforts and the present shortage of healthcare manpower, we consider it pragmatic and responsible to commence operation of the North Lantau Hospital (NLTH) in phases so that appropriate services could be provided for the public as soon as possible. My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:

(a) The Accident and Emergency (A&E) department of NLTH has been providing eight hours of service a day (9am to 5pm) since September 24, 2013. Subject to the availability of manpower resources and relevant supporting facilities, NLTH plans to extend its service hours to 16 hours a day (8am to midnight) by January 2014 the latest. With new medical graduates contributing to the manpower supply in July next year, we expect that the service hours of the A&E department can be extended to 24 hours in the third quarter of 2014.

(b) Patients under the care of general out-patient (GOP) clinics comprise two major categories, namely the chronically ill with stable medical conditions, such as patients with diabetes mellitus or hypertension, and patients with episodic diseases whose symptoms are relatively mild, such as those suffering from influenza, cold, fever, gastroenteritis, etc. Patients with chronic diseases will be assigned a timeslot for next visit after each consultation and do not need to make separate appointments. As for patients with episodic diseases, consultation timeslots at GOP clinics in the next 24 hours are available for booking through the telephone appointment system. NLTH has also put in place a special consultation arrangement by providing extended evening GOP services for patients with episodic diseases. In general, the existing arrangement at NLTH has fully catered for the local demand for GOP services. Considering the need to use GOP resources efficiently, extending GOP services into the small hours or providing overnight GOP services is not cost-effective and will create greater pressure on healthcare staffing. In this connection, the Hospital Authority (HA) has no plan to operate GOP services at late hours or round-the-clock at this stage.

(c) The Medicine and Psychiatry Specialist Out-patient Clinics of NLTH has already commenced operation. Physiotherapy and occupational therapy services are now available to take up referrals from the A&E department and the GOP clinic. NLTH will, having regard to the service demand and the operation situation, provide services in other specialties such as surgery, orthopaedics and traumatology, paediatrics and gynaecology in phases.

(d) The Transport Department (TD) has maintained close contact with HA to collect information about the transport demand of the public travelling to and from NLTH in different periods of time in order to make the appropriate public transport arrangements. To cope with the commissioning of NLTH, TD, after consulting the Traffic and Transport Committee of the Islands District Council, has made arrangements with the New Lantao Bus Company Limited (NLB) for extending the service hours of bus route no. 37 (between Yat Tung Estate and Tung Chung North (Caribbean Coast)) and increasing the frequency of bus route no. 38 (between Yat Tung Estate and the Tung Chung MTR Station) to facilitate travelling to and from the hospital. As for residents living in South Lantau, such as Tai O and Mui Wo, they can travel to and from NLTH by NLB bus route nos. 11 and 3M. According to an on-site survey conducted by TD, the services of the above-mentioned routes at present can generally meet the demand of passengers. That said, TD will pay close attention to the changes in transport demand as more services are gradually offered by NLTH, and will strengthen public transport services timely according to demand. Both introduction of new services as well as enhancement of existing services will be measures under consideration then.

Ends/Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Issued at HKT 15:27

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