Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ15: Public healthcare services
Following is a question by the Hon Gary Fan and a written reply by the Secretary
for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (October
14):
Question:
As pointed out in the review report released by the Steering Committee on Review
of Hospital Authority (HA) in July this year, there is a priority need for HA to
provide additional funding for three hospital clusters, namely the New
Territories East Cluster (NTEC), the New Territories West Cluster and the
Kowloon East Cluster, to serve the continuously growing population in these
catchment districts, and to echo the concerns expressed by hospital staff on
under-provision of resources for some hospitals in the three clusters. In
addition, according to the latest report on the Surgical Outcomes Monitoring and
Improvement Programme released by HA, among the 13 public hospitals which
provide emergency surgeries, North District Hospital (NDH) in NTEC is the only
hospital the performance of which has been rated as unsatisfactory. HA considers
that the relevant outcome is related to the manpower shortage of surgeons in NDH
and the increases of cross-boundary patients and elderly patients. In connection
with public healthcare services, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has any plan to consolidate the data on transient population, so
as to grasp the demand of Hong Kong residents residing on the Mainland for local
healthcare services; if it does, of the details;
(2) whether it knows, in each of the past five years, the respective attendances
at various public hospitals of Hong Kong residents residing on the Mainland for
(i) using the services of the accident and emergency departments, (ii) receiving
surgical operations and (iii) staying in hospitals for treatment; if it knows,
of a breakdown of the figures by hospital name and the cluster to which the
hospital belongs;
(3) whether it knows, in respect of the Hong Kong residents residing on the
Mainland, (i) their attendances at public general out-patient clinics to seek
consultations for the first time, (ii) their attendances at these clinics to
seek follow-up consultations and (iii) the number of referrals to specialist
out-patient clinics made for them by these clinics, in each of the past five
years; if it knows, of a breakdown of the figures by clinic name and the cluster
to which the clinic belongs;
(4) given that the aforesaid review report pointed out that the Government would
allocate a time-limited funding of $300 million for the next three financial
years from 2015-2016 to enhance the existing services of the three aforesaid
clusters, whether the authorities know the details of the allocation of such
funding, including the considerations to be given to the demand of Hong Kong
residents residing on the Mainland for local healthcare services in the process
of resource allocation;
(5) whether it will expeditiously implement the expansion projects of Alice Ho
Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital (AHNH) and NDH, so as to improve the provision of
public healthcare services in New Territories East and meet the demand of Hong
Kong residents residing on the Mainland for local healthcare services; and
(6) given that among the various police posts set up in the accident and
emergency departments of public hospitals, only the police posts in AHNH and NDH
in NTEC do not operate round the clock, whether the authorities will allocate
additional resources to enable the two police posts to operate round the clock
in order to strengthen the protection of the personal safety of patients and
healthcare personnel?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the various parts of the question relating to public healthcare
services raised by the Hon Gary Fan is as follows:
(1) to (3) All eligible Hong Kong residents can use the public healthcare
services subsidised by the Government. As eligible Hong Kong residents residing
in the Mainland may not necessarily declare to the Hospital Authority (HA) their
residence in the Mainland when seeking medical consultations, HA does not
maintain relevant statistical figures on eligible Hong Kong residents residing
in the Mainland who have used HA's services.
Nevertheless, in projecting the demand for public healthcare services, HA will
fully consider the needs of all eligible persons based on the demographic data
and population projections by the Government and through survey and research.
Therefore, the healthcare service demand of Hong Kong residents who have moved
to the Mainland will not be overlooked because of their relocation. Looking
ahead, we will continue to monitor the demand for various healthcare services
and plan the service development having regard to factors like the demographic
growth and changes, medical technology advances and healthcare manpower, so as
to meet the needs of the community at large.
(4) For the three financial years starting from 2015-16, the Government would
allocate an additional time-limited funding of $300 million to HA for the
enhancement of services in the New Territories East Cluster, New Territories
West Cluster and Kowloon East Cluster. About $80 million of this time-limited
funding has been deployed to the three clusters in 2015-16. Around 70 per cent
of such an amount deployed was used to hire additional staff (including nursing
and supporting staff) while the remaining amount was used to replace and
purchase equipment, so as to provide better services for Hong Kong residents
(including those who have moved to the Mainland and returned to Hong Kong for
medical treatment). In the coming two financial years, HA will continue to use
the remaining portion of the funding to further improve the services provided by
the three clusters having regard to the service needs of the relevant clusters.
(5) Having regard to the demand for healthcare services in Tai Po, HA has
deployed resources to enhance the inpatient service of Alice Ho Miu Ling
Nethersole Hospital (AHNH). These include the provision of an additional medical
ward in the third to fourth quarter of 2015, the development of a joint
replacement centre and the installation of a magnetic resonance imaging machine.
Besides, in order to meet the future healthcare demand of the entire population
in the North District, the Government has reserved a site of around 30 000
square metres adjacent to the North District Hospital (NDH) for expansion
projects to provide additional beds and increase service capacity when
necessary.
(6) The Police have provided round-the-clock service in the police post in the
accident and emergency (A&E) department of NDH since September 2015. At present,
there are police officers on duty from 7am to 11pm every day in the A&E
department of AHNH. AHNH has also arranged security guards to station at the A&E
department round-the-clock to provide assistance at all times. Furthermore, AHNH
and the Tai Po Police Station have established a notification mechanism to
ensure close liaison on security arrangements. At the same time, the Police will
examine the feasibility of deploying police officers to station at the A&E
department of AHNH round-the-clock.
Ends/Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Issued at HKT 17:10
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