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Following is a question by the Hon Lee Wing-tat and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (June 27):
Question:
Regarding medical services in North Lantau, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) given that in its reply to a Member's question at the Council meeting on November 23, 2005, the Government indicated that North Lantau Hospital ("NLH") would be commissioned in phases in 2011-2012 the earliest, of the latest progress of and the timetable for the construction and planning of NLH, and whether the hospital will be commissioned in phases in 2011-2012 as scheduled;
(b) of the number of patient-trips taken by ambulances from Tung Chung to the accident and emergency departments of public hospitals in other districts in the past five years, broken down by triage categories;
(c) of the additional manpower and annual funding which will be required for the provision of round-the-clock non-urgent medical services at Tung Chung Health Centre ("TCHC") seven days a week; and whether the Government will consider extending the service hours of TCHC before the commissioning of NLH; if so, of the relevant details and implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that; and
(d) of the number of attendances in the past five years for dental services provided by TCHC to civil servants and their dependents, and whether it will review the need for providing dental services at TCHC to the public?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) A site of about 49 000 square metres at Tung Chung has been earmarked for construction of the North Lantau Hospital (NLH). It normally takes four to five years to design, build and commission a new hospital. Subject to the relevant legal and administrative procedures, the Government and the Hospital Authority (HA) will expedite the planning and construction process of NLH. The planning of NLH is underway and we are now studying the scope of medical services and operational model of NLH. We will also explore the feasibility of public-private collaboration and commissioning the hospital by phases. We are now reviewing the schedule of developing the NLH based on the above.
(b) The number of Tung Chug residents being taken to public hospitals for medical treatment by ambulances in the past five years is shown in Annex 1.
(c) The Tung Chung Health Centre (TCHC) now opens six days a week to provide general out-patient service. Its consultation hours are similar to those of other general out-patient clinics (GOPC) under the HA (i.e. from 9 am to 5 pm and 6 pm to 10 pm on Mondays to Fridays, and from 9 am to 1 pm on Saturdays). According to HA's preliminary assessment based on the existing delivery model of its outpatient service, the provision of round-the-clock outpatient service seven days a week at the TCHC would require deployment of 42 frontline healthcare and support staff and incur additional resources of about $14 million per annum.
According to HA's statistics, the current ratio between the attendances of the GOPC at the TCHC and the population of its catchment area is higher than the overall average of the whole territory. The ratio of major target client of the general out-patient services in Tung Chung (including the vulnerable groups such as low income families, the chronically ill and the disadvantaged elderly) is lower than the overall average of the whole territory.
There are already a number of clinics run by private medical practitioners in the Tung Chung district providing outpatient services which run until late at night. As GOPCs and their facilities are not meant to provide emergency services to patients in acute clinical conditions, patients with genuine urgent needs for medical attention should still seek services from the Accident and Emergency Departments of hospitals. The utilisation rate of the GOPCs at late night or in overnight session is generally lower than that at daytime. Given the need to effectively deploy the resources for outpatient service, we have no plan to provide round-the-clock outpatient service seven days a week at Tung Chung at this stage.
Nevertheless, having regard to the fact that residents of Tung Chung may have greater demand for evening outpatient service due to special factors of the district, and in order to make an in-depth assessment of the utilisation of the evening outpatient service by local residents in Tung Chung and the cost-effectiveness of the service, the HA plans to re-introduce from this summer the "special evening outpatient service" for six months from 10 pm to 11.45 pm on Mondays to Fridays on a trial basis. Under the scheme, service will be provided to local residents with acute illness and need immediate treatment. The HA will conduct a review after the trial period to determine if the service should be continued.
(d) The number of attendances of the Government Dental Clinic at the TCHC in the past five years is set out in Annex 2. As the average utilisation rate of the clinic is over 97%, and the default rate of patients with bookings is relatively low, the Government does not have any plan to open part of the clinic's dental services to the public for the time being.
Ends/Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:41
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