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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Kwok-ki and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (October 25):
Question:
The Hospital Authority (HA) announced on October 4 the establishment of a Steering Committee on Doctor Working Hour to review the working hours of public hospital doctors. Some doctors have relayed to me that they are worried that without the Government's policy support, any effort in reviewing the matter would only be futile. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it has set a target for doctors' working hours; if it has, of the target set and the grounds for setting such a target;
(b) whether it will increase its funding allocation to HA in the coming year, so as to provide HA with more resources for recruiting additional staff to implement the reduction of public hospital doctors' working hours to a reasonable level; and
(c) apart from the establishment of a committee to review doctors' working hours, whether any other policies are in place to facilitate the reduction of doctors' working hours to a reasonable level?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Government has not set any target for the number of working hours per week for doctors under the employment and management of the Hospital Authority (HA). Pursuant to paragraph 10(1) in Schedule 3 of the Hospital Authority Ordinance (Cap.113), the HA shall determine the terms and conditions of employment of its employees. The only exception is the employment of its Chief Executive, which requires the approval of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Government respects the powers vested in law to the HA, but will continue to closely monitor the workload and working hours of public hospital doctors.
(b) The Government has already committed in this year's budget to increase recurrent funding for the HA for 2007-08 by about $300 million. It will be a matter for the HA to decide how the new resources should be deployed, including whether to recruit additional staff.
(c) We understand that the HA has already started examining ways to improve arrangements for ward rounds and on-call duties by doctors with a view to progressively reducing the working hours of doctors to a level not exceeding 65 hours per week in three years as well as the excessively long continuous working hours of doctors in certain specialties to a more reasonable level. As the work nature of doctors in different specialties differs diversely, and trainee doctors also need to attain specific practical experience requirements for different Specialty Colleges under the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, these reviews will require a series of consultation with all concerned stakeholders. The results of the reviews, and other proposals that may emerge, will be submitted to HA's Steering Committee on Doctor Working Hour for consideration.
Ends/Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:15
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