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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Ambulatory Surgery Centre of Tseung Kwan O Hospital was officially opened today (3 March). This is made possible with the one-off allocation of $10M by the government. The opening of the Centre signifies the enhancement of ambulatory surgery service in the hospital that is in line with the Hospital Authority's planned responses to increasing service demand.
The officiating guests at the ceremony included Mr Shane SOLOMON, Chief Executive, Hospital Authority; Mr NG Sze-fuk, SBS, JP, Chairman, Sai Kung District Council; Mr LO Chung-hing, SBS, Chairman, Hospital Governing Committee, Tseung Kwan O Hospital; Dr C C LUK, Cluster Chief Executive, Kowloon East Cluster, Hospital Authority and Dr David LAM, Hospital Chief Executive, Tseung Kwan O Hospital.
The Centre came into operation since December 2007. It provides a multi-specialty platform for collaboration among Surgery, Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Gynaecology, Ear, Nose & Throat and Ophthalmology services. The collaborative service model maximizes resources and enhances logistic efficiency. The Centre provides one-stop service including pre-anaesthetic assessment, post-operative care and discharge patient support that significantly enhances patient convenience. The patient centred design and facilities of the Centre also create a comfortable and cozy environment for users and lessen the patient's anxiety.
There are numerous merits of ambulatory surgery, including reduction of unnecessary hospitalization, minimizing the length of hospital stay, relieving the pressure on in-patient beds, reduction of potential risk of infection and minimizing inconvenience caused by hospitalization. Patient safety, operational feasibility and patient's acceptance will be given serious consideration before embarking on ambulatory surgery.
Under the clustering concept, the Centre serves not only the residents in Tseung Kwan O but also those in Kowloon East Cluster. It helps to relieve the burden of high bed occupancy and improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness in the cluster. Remarked at the ceremony by Mr Solomon, "As an accountable organization committed for modern and safe clinical practice, we believe we are moving in the right direction of increasing number of day surgeries and procedures. HA will continue to support the development of ambulatory surgery in Tseung Kwan O and we will gradually expand this service delivery model to other clusters in HA."
Ends/Monday, March 3, 2008
Issued at HKT 19:43
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