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Following is a question by the Hon Joseph Lee and a reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (June 20):
Question:
According to the documents of the Hospital Authority (HA), HA has been working jointly with the health department of the Guangdong Province to arrange for mainland nurses to receive training and perform clinical nursing work in the public hospitals in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(a) currently, which public hospitals have commenced the above training of mainland nurses and whether other public hospitals will gradually commence such training; if they will, of the names of the hospitals concerned and the commencement time;
(b) whether HA recoups the necessary expenses from the mainland nurses concerned, and pay them salaries for performing clinical nursing work in the public hospitals in Hong Kong; if so, of the amount involved, and whether HA will make reference to the usual practice and reimburse the relevant hospital departments using such income or disburse it to the front-line nurses responsible for supervising the relevant clinical nursing training concerned; if the expenses will not be recouped, the reasons for that; and
(c) whether the above mainland nurses have obtained the practising certificates in nursing issued by the Nursing Council of Hong Kong; if not, of the reasons for that; whether the authorities concerned have assessed whether such nurses performing clinical nursing work is in compliance with the laws of Hong Kong, whether it will affect the quality of nursing care in public hospitals and solve the problem of shortage of nurses; if they have made such assessments, of the results?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Hospital Authority (HA) signed an agreement with the Health Department of Guangdong Province on Guangdong-Hong Kong Nurse Specialist training programme in May this year. Under this training programme, the HA will provide professional training courses for nurses from Guangdong Province, to enhance their knowledge on the role, duties and clinical skills of nurse specialists and improve their management skills through appreciation of the management system of hospitals in Hong Kong. According to the agreement, the HA will provide training for Mainland nurses for four years. The HA will also review annually details of the course arrangement and development.
Starting from the end of June 2007, the Institute of Advanced Nursing Studies under the HA will arrange for the first batch of 120 Mainland nurses to receive 10 months of training in three specialities (Intensive Care Unit, Orthopaedics and Operation Theatre Nursing) at eight hospitals, namely, the Queen Mary Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kowloon Hospital, Tuen Mun Hospital, North District Hospital, Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, Prince of Wales Hospital and Tai Po Hospital. At present, the HA has no plan to launch the training programme in other hospitals.
(b) The HA will collect HKD$10,000 from each Mainland as nurse tuition fee. The relevant income will be allocated to HA's Institute of Advanced Nursing School and the nursing development departments of relevant hospitals for the purpose of nurse training. The HA will not pay any salaries to the Mainland nurses under training, but will offer a monthly study grant of $5,000 to each of them as a subsidy to their living expenses in Hong Kong.
(c) The aim of this training programme is to provide training opportunities and clinical placement for Mainland nurses, and not to increase the manpower of public hospitals. As the Mainland nurses under training in Hong Kong will not provide clinical services independently, the issue of practising certificates therefore does not arise. In planning for the training programme and arranging clinical placement for nurse trainees in hospitals, the HA will ensure that its services and the work of the frontline nurses will not be affected. In addition to raising the standard of specialist care of the Mainland nurses, the training programme will also facilitate exchanges on healthcare services between Hong Kong and the Mainland.
Ends/Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:29
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