Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ6: Hong Kong Children's Hospital and acute general hospital in Kai Tak Development area
Following is a question by the Hon Wong Kwok-kin and a reply by the Secretary
for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (June 25):
Question:
The Chief Executive stated in his 2014 Policy Address that strategic planning
would be made for building a new acute general hospital at the Kai Tak
Development Area (the Kai Tak Hospital). It has been reported that according to
the latest assessment, the completion date of the Kai Tak Hospital, which the
authorities originally forecast to be 2020 at the earliest, may be deferred to
2023. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it
knows:
(1) if the Hospital Authority (HA) has assessed, based on the current progress,
whether the service planning and technical feasibility study for the Kai Tak
Hospital can be completed within this year as scheduled; the latest progress of
the service planning; whether, based on the authorities' latest assessment, the
hospital can be completed in 2020; if so, of the detailed timetable and the
expected time for submission of funding applications to the Legislative Council;
if not, the details of the reasons for that; and
(2) if HA has assessed the impacts of the failure to complete the Kai Tak
Hospital in 2020 on the redevelopment of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, on the
service quality of the Hong Kong Children's Hospital upon commissioning and on
the planning of the overall healthcare services in Kowloon; of HA’s measures to
mitigate such impacts?
Reply:
President,
To meet the healthcare service demand of Hong Kong in the long run, the
Government has reserved a site in the Kai Tak Development (KTD) area for the
development of healthcare facilities, including the Hong Kong Children's
Hospital (HKCH) which is under construction and the proposed acute general
hospital. With the funding approval of the Finance Committee of the Legislative
Council in June 2013, the construction of the HKCH has already commenced. To
cater for the long-term overall demand for healthcare services in Kowloon, we
have asked the Hospital Authority (HA) to conduct the relevant strategic
planning and studies with a view to implementing the plan of constructing an
acute general hospital of a larger scale in the KTD area as soon as possible.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(1) The HA is conducting the relevant strategic planning and studies on the
construction of a new acute general hospital in the KTD area in order to gauge
the healthcare service needs of Kowloon and the Kai Tak area. Technical
assessment and analysis of clinical needs are also carried out to ensure that
the provision of healthcare services will cope with the development and
demographic changes of the area. The proposed hospital will provide clinical
services of major specialties, including accident and emergency service. The
planning and technical feasibility study for the construction of the new
hospital are expected to be completed this year. As the relevant studies are
still in progress, the completion date of the proposed general hospital has yet
to be finalised. Upon the completion of the planning work, HA can formulate a
more concrete timetable for the hospital development project. We will then seek
funding approval in accordance with the established procedures so as to
implement the construction plan of the general hospital in the KTD area as soon
as possible.
(2) The HA plans to develop a hospital group in Kai Tak which can provide
holistic healthcare services. The group of hospitals will include a paediatric
hospital and a major general acute hospital with a neuroscience centre.
The ground-breaking ceremony of the HKCH was held on February 25, 2014 and the
construction of the HKCH is now in full swing. The hospital is scheduled for
completion in 2017 and will commence service in phases starting from 2018.
The HKCH will be the first hospital commencing service in the KTD area. During
its initial stage of operation, the HKCH will be supported by other general
hospitals. In the long run, its operation mode will be different from the
paediatric departments of conventional general hospitals. The HKCH will focus on
handling complex and rare paediatric cases which require multi-disciplinary
management. Other public hospitals will continue to provide emergency care,
general paediatric specialty care and community care services for paediatric
patients, while complex cases such as children's cancer, cardiological and
advanced nephrological cases will be referred to the HKCH. The HKCH will work in
close collaboration with paediatric departments and relevant specialties of
various hospital clusters to establish a co-ordinated and coherent paediatric
service network that provides patients with the most suitable care. HA is
planning for the future operation of the HKCH as well as its co-ordination and
support arrangement with other hospitals.
On the other hand, HA is reviewing and assessing the demand for and supply of
healthcare services in Kowloon, as well as developing the clinical services
plans of the Kowloon Central Cluster and the Kowloon East Cluster. During the
planning process, the long-term healthcare demand of local residents will be
considered, and the direction of future service development of hospitals in the
clusters (including the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH)) and their co-ordination
with other hospitals will also be worked out according to the demand projection
and services plans. The review and the services plans are expected to be
completed within this year. HA will continue to keep in close view the
healthcare service needs in the area and deploy resources appropriately to
ensure the provision of appropriate healthcare services for the local community.
The redevelopment of the QEH is still in the preliminary planning/conceptual
stage and the Administration has yet to finalise a plan.
Ends/Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Issued at HKT 15:33
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