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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Joseph Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (February 28):
Question:
In connection with the plans of the Hospital Authority (HA) to redevelop its hospitals, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(a) the redevelopment plans for the hospitals in various hospital clusters over the past five years and in the next ten years, details of the plans and the estimated expenditures;
(b) how the aforesaid redevelopment plans will tie in with the overall development of the hospital clusters, as well as the staffing and services arrangements; and
(c) if HA will review its redevelopment plans to ensure that there will be no duplication of services or resources, or wastage of resources?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) In the past five years, the Hospital Authority (HA) has implemented four hospital redevelopment projects. Funding has also been reserved for two proposed hospital redevelopment projects in the future. Details and estimates of the aforesaid redevelopment projects are set out in the Annex.
(b) As for how the aforesaid redevelopment projects tie in with the development of the relevant hospital cluster, our reply is as follows:
(1) Kowloon West Cluster - Establishment of a Radiotherapy Centre and Redevelopment of the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH)
One of the main objectives of this project is to deal with the increasing number of oncology cases and demand for radiotherapy treatment. This Radiotherapy Centre in the Kowloon West Cluster (KWC) offers timely and highly efficient radiotherapy services and provides treatment to 2,000 new cancer patients annually. The number of new cancer patients the Centre can handle will increase to 2,800 per annum in the following years. Each year, the Centre will handle 45,000 specialist out-patient attendances and follow-up consultations, as well as 5,500 follow-up attendances for patients receiving chemotherapy, and provide in-patient service of around 21,000 in-patient days. With the support of non-profit-making organisations, a Cancer Patient Resource Centre was set up to further enhance the service in the KWC. To tie in with the redevelopment of the A&E Department of PMH, the HA in 2005 established at PMH's A&E Department the fifth Cluster Major Trauma Centre in Hong Kong. Starting from 2006, the Centre has been receiving patients with severe trauma in the catchment area of Yan Chai Hospital and Caritas Medical Centre. The KWC has, according to its overall service planning, deployed staff to commission the above new facilities in phases.
(2) New Territories West Cluster - Redevelopment and Expansion of Pok Oi Hospital (POH); Tuen Mun Hospital (TMH) Rehabilitation Block
The POH has been upgraded to a modern acute general hospital through the redevelopment and expansion project. The additional 272 acute in-patient beds at the POH will be able to alleviate the problem of shortage of hospital beds in the New Territories West Cluster (NTWC). At the same time, a rehabilitation block has been constructed at the TMH to provide 512 additional convalescent/rehabilitation beds to meet the demand for rehabilitation services in the NTWC. To tie in with the opening of the two batches of hospital beds mentioned above, the NTWC will employ additional allied health professionals to strengthen the ambulatory service and launch various rehabilitation programmes, with a view to shortening patients' unnecessary bed-days at hospital, as well as enhancing the efficiency of use of resources and the quality of service.
(3) New Territories East Cluster - Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH) - Extension Block
The redevelopment project can increase the space of PWH, improve its layout and upgrade its equipment to meet the standard of a modern tertiary acute hospital and advances in clinical technologies. The project can also enhance the operational efficiency of the hospital and provide a comfortable, patient-oriented environment. The New Territories East Cluster will provide the upgraded services through internal redeployment of staff.
(4) Kowloon West Cluster - Redevelopment of Caritas Medial Centre (CMC) Phase 2; Redevelopment of Yan Chai Hospital (YCH)
The redevelopment of CMC and YCH aims to upgrade the existing dilapidated buildings and facilities of the hospitals to meet the standards of modern medical facility, and to enhance the operational efficiency of the hospitals. The redevelopments projects will enable the two hospitals to cope with the increasing demand for medical services in the community arising from the growing and ageing population. By redeveloping YCH, the HA will also strengthen its community-based healthcare services to deal with the increased cases of chronic illness resulted from the ageing population. The Kowloon West Cluster will provide the upgraded services through internal redeployment of staff.
(c) The main objectives of redeveloping the hospitals are to fulfill rising service demand, upgrade the dilapidated facilities and introduce new technologies at the hospitals, with a view to providing the public with appropriate medical services and an ideal treatment setting. When implementing the hospital redevelopment projects, such as when designing the buildings or selecting the materials for ancillary facilities, the HA has been sticking to the principles of cost-effectiveness and practicability. The hospital redevelopment projects in the past five years were all completed within the scheduled timetable and approved estimates. In addition, the HA Head Office will strive to minimise service duplication and enhance efficiency of use of resources through overall planning. The hospital clusters will, through flexible deployment of resources and service re-engineering, further enhance efficient use of resources and minimise service duplication, while ensuring adequate service provision to meet medical needs of the public.
Ends/Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Issued at HKT 13:08
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