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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Joseph Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (May 28):
Question:
Regarding the manpower position of allied health staff of the Hospital Authority (HA), will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(a) in the past five years, the respective numbers of allied health staff in various HA's hospital clusters who were newly employed, had departed and were promoted, and of those who were promoted, the average length of service in their previous ranks before promotion (please provide the figures in Annex 1);
(b) whether HA has filled all of the vacancies arising from the above departure or promotion of allied health staff; if not, of the reasons for that; and
(c) the details of the training programmes to be provided by HA in the next five years for the above allied health staff?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) Statistical data on allied health staff in various hospital clusters under the Hospital Authority (HA) for the past five years are shown in Annex 2 & 3.
In the past five years, the respective numbers of allied health staff in HA who were promoted and the average length of service in their previous ranks before promotion are shown in Annex 4.
There is only one rank in the Optometrist grade and there is therefore no promotion record for officers of the grade.
(b) The HA clusters redeploy its existing manpower and get new recruits for replacement or additional support in the light of the service demand. For instance, some physiotherapists were redeployed from the Hong Kong West Cluster to other clusters upon the closure of the Nam Long Hospital Hospital; some radiotherapists were transferred from the Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) to the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) in tandem with the opening of the PMH's new radiotherapy centre, while HA will make arrangements to fill the vacancies in QMH arising from the staff transfer; additional pharmacists have also been employed by HA upon the taking over of the general out-patient service from the Department of Health.
In the past five years, the numbers of staff who had departed and those who were newly employed in the allied health grades are 388 and 541 respectively. Save for the dieticians, for which the total number of staff has decreased by one as a result of a change in the mode of their clinical training, there has been a general increase in the number of staff in all other allied health grades.
(c) HA has all along attached great importance to the training of its allied health staff. Since April 2007, a three-year induction training programme has been provided by HA for its newly-employed allied health staff. In addition to the provision of training on day-to-day clinical work, the programme also lays the foundation for future development of the allied health staff. So far, over 150 staff have participated in the programme.
The Institute of Advanced Allied Health Studies (IAAHS) was established by HA in July 2007. In addition to devising a structured long-term training plan for allied health staff, IAAHS also runs courses on specialist and multi-disciplinary training and on personal development to cope with service demand and facilitate professional development. To meet service needs, some 50 courses will be organised for allied health staff in 2008-09, most of which will be open to non-HA allied health staff. HA will also arrange training for relevant staff to tie in with the use of new equipment or technology.
Ends/Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Issued at HKT 15:09
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