Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ10: Private hospitals
Following is a question by the Hon Alice Mak and a written reply by the Acting
Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, in the Legislative Council
today (February 25):
Question:
The Policy Agenda of this year's Policy Address proposes to facilitate the
further development of private hospitals with a view to ensuring the healthy
development of a twin-track healthcare system in Hong Kong. In this connection,
will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the respective numbers of beds currently provided by
various private hospitals, with a breakdown by hospital, type of ward and level
of charge;
(2) whether it knows the monthly bed occupancy rates for various private
hospitals in the past 24 months, with a breakdown by hospital, type of ward and
level of charge;
(3) given that in the past, the Government included in the land leases granted
to private hospitals conditions stipulating that such hospitals shall provide a
specified number of free or low-charge beds, of the current number of private
hospitals the leases of which contain such conditions and the details of the
conditions (including the penalties for contravention of the conditions); how
the authorities monitor such hospitals to see if they have really complied with
such conditions;
(4) as some people have pointed out that the Government's implementation of the
Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme may lead to private hospitals raising bed
charges and substituting low-charge beds for high-charge ones, what measures the
authorities have in place to prevent occurrence of such a situation; and
(5) as it is proposed in the public consultation document on the Review of
Regulation of Private Healthcare Facilities that new legislation be introduced
for regulating private healthcare facilities, whether the authorities will
consider including provisions in the new legislation or including conditions in
the land leases to be granted to private hospitals to require these hospitals to
provide a certain ratio of free or low-charge beds, so as to ensure that private
healthcare services at reasonable charges are available for the public to
choose; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The healthcare system in Hong Kong comprises both the public and private
healthcare sectors which are complementary to each other. The public healthcare
system is the cornerstone of our healthcare system and safety net to all Hong
Kong citizens, providing them with equitable, quality and affordable healthcare
services. The private healthcare sector mainly complements the public healthcare
services by providing a choice for those who are able and willing to pay for
private healthcare services. We will continue to maintain the dual-track
healthcare system which has worked well over the years, and facilitate the
balanced and sustainable development of the public and private healthcare
sectors.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(1) Under the Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Maternity Homes Registration
Ordinance (Cap. 165) (the Ordinance), the Department of Health (DH) registers
private hospitals fulfilling conditions relating to accommodation, staffing and
equipment. The number of beds of each private hospital as at December 31, 2014
is set out below:
Hospital Number of beds
-------- --------------
Canossa Hospital 176
Evangel Hospital 67
Hong Kong Adventist Hospital 135
Hong Kong Baptist Hospital 754
Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital 539
Matilda and War Memorial Hospital 99
Precious Blood Hospital (Caritas) 158
St. Paul's Hospital 352
St. Teresa's Hospital 1 068
Tsuen Wan Adventist Hospital 153
Union Hospital 405
----- --------------
Total 3 906
According to the information provided by private hospitals, their number of beds
in wards of different classes as at December 31, 2014 are as follows:
Classes of wards Number of beds
---------------- --------------
First Class Ward 355
Second Class Ward 643
General Ward 2 908
----- --------------
Total 3 906
The DH does not collect information regarding the number of beds in private
hospitals by level of charge.
(2) The overall bed occupancy rates of private hospitals in 2012 and 2013 are
67% and 61% respectively. The DH does not collect information regarding the bed
occupancy rates by type of ward and level of charge.
(3) Currently, two private hospitals are required to provide free or low-charge
beds according to the land lease. In accordance with the conditions of land
grants, the hospitals are required to provide not less than 20% of their beds as
low-charge beds on the granted land, and one of the hospitals is also required
to provide 20 free beds.
The DH conducts unannounced hospital inspections to examine the services of free
and low-charge beds. In addition, private hospitals are required to regularly
report the occupancy rate of the relevant beds to the DH. The DH will refer
cases of contravention of the conditions of grants to the Lands Department for
follow-up actions.
(4) The Minimum Requirements proposed under the Voluntary Health Insurance
Scheme (VHIS) are to ensure that the public would be provided with basic
protection in their health insurance so that they can choose to utilise private
healthcare services at general ward level. In line with the implementation of
VHIS, we will promote and facilitate the development of private hospitals with a
view to expanding the overall service capacity of our healthcare system to cope
with increasing demand for healthcare services. It is expected that the number
of beds in private hospitals will see an increase of over 40% by 2020, which
will help keep the price levels of private healthcare services under better
check.
In fact, private hospitals are not allowed to arbitrarily change the ward
configuration (such as the number of beds and ward compartments). Hospitals are
required to apply to the licensing authority before any changes are made and
demonstrate that the licensing requirements relating to accommodation, staffing
and equipment would be met.
(5) In facilitating the development of private hospitals, we are committed to
ensuring that the services provided by new hospitals are of good quality to
cater for public needs. As such, we have formulated a set of special
requirements for the development of private hospitals, including the provision
of services at packaged charge and enhancement of price transparency.
For existing private hospitals undergoing expansion/redevelopment projects and
new private hospitals to be developed mainly on private land, we will invite the
relevant hospitals to consider, during the process of development, accepting the
special requirements such as provision of services at packaged charge and
enhancement of price transparency. The special requirements will be implemented
by means of lease modification subject to the acceptance of the hospital
operators.
With regard to the new private hospital development project at the Wong Chuk
Hang site granted by the Government through open tender in 2013, according to
the conditions of the lease taken out by the Government and the successful
tenderer, the new private hospital will fulfil the requirements in respect of
services at packaged charge and price transparency by using at least 51% of
in-patient bed-days taken up in a year for provision of services to local
residents through standard beds and packaged charging, and providing
comprehensive charging information to the public.
Ends/Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Issued at HKT 16:47
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