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Healthcare Reform
Consultation
80. The first-stage public consultation on healthcare reform reflects a broad community consensus on the pressing need for reform. Our citizens recognise the need to enhance primary care, promote public-private partnerships, develop an electronic health record system and strengthen the healthcare safety net. They consider that these service reforms should be expedited. We are committed to making the best use of increased resources over the next few years to introduce those service reforms with clear public support before finalising the healthcare financing arrangements.
81. The public generally agrees that the Government should increase its commitment to healthcare and continue to be the primary source of financing for healthcare. As for the supplementary financing options, we have received many insightful views on various important issues. We plan to launch the second-stage public consultation in the first half of 2009 to encourage further discussions and seek to forge a consensus on healthcare financing.
Promoting the Development of Private Healthcare
82. To consolidate and enhance Hong Kong's position as a prime medical centre in the region, we must have comprehensive measures in place to upgrade our hardware and software. For the hardware, we will encourage and facilitate the development of private hospitals. The Government is identifying suitable sites initially including the Wong Chuk Hang, Tseung Kwan O, Tai Po and North Lantau areas. We will invite expressions of interest and proposals on hospital development from the private sector. We will formulate policies to ensure that the premiums for such land are fair to the private hospitals and the public. We will also ensure that the development of private hospitals will further upgrade our healthcare services to benefit the community and promote the expansion of the medical services industry.
83. As for the software, we need to attract talent from around the world to enhance training, exchanges and the professional competence of our healthcare personnel. In full respect for professional autonomy, we will discuss with the healthcare registration bodies, training providers and professional bodies ways to strengthen local medical practitioners' professional competence in line with international standards.
84. In parallel, the Government will take steps to redress the serious imbalance in the provision of public and private healthcare services. We will implement a series of pilot measures to promote public-private partnership. These include purchasing primary care services and hospital services from the private sector, subsidising the public for preventive care provided by the private sector, and establishing medical centres of excellence in paediatrics and neuroscience.
District Medical Facilities
85. To meet service demand in Tin Shui Wai, which has seen rapid developments in recent years, we plan to build a hospital in the district to strengthen medical services for residents. We expect works to start in 2011 for completion in 2015.
Enhancing Primary Care Services
Working Group on Primary Care
86. The proposal to enhance primary care services received broad public support during the healthcare reform consultation. We will allocate more resources in the coming few years to implement this proposal. This will include introducing basic primary care service models focusing on preventive care and a primary care register based on the family-doctor concept. The Secretary for Food and Health will set up a Working Group on Primary Care to take forward this initiative. Members will include healthcare professionals from the public and private sectors.
Community Health Centre
87. To provide comprehensive primary services in local communities, and to cater for the healthcare needs of the elderly and the under-privileged in particular, we will explore a primary care delivery model -- the "community health centre" -- to co-ordinate the efforts of different service units in the delivery of primary care services. Depending on the different needs of communities, service units could include general out-patient services, outreach community healthcare services, nurse clinic services, allied health services, and specialist services for relatively simple cases. We will explore the feasibility of delivering services under the community health centre model through tri-partite collaboration among the public sector, the private sector and NGOs, with the public sector responsible for service co-ordination. Under the new service delivery model, low-income families and the under-privileged will continue to be taken care of by subsidised public healthcare services.
Childhood Immunisation Programme
88. The Government keeps abreast of the latest developments in vaccines and pathology, and will include new vaccines in the free Childhood Immunisation Programme (CIP) if there are sufficient scientific justifications. On the advice of experts and the Centre for Health Protection, the Government has decided to include pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in the CIP.
Care for Chronic Patients
89. To improve the health of our citizens and reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and renal disease, we will promote the prevention of, and care support for, chronic diseases in both the public and private sectors in local communities. We will conduct health risk assessments and draw up management programmes for high-risk patients; help chronic patients improve their self-care skills through enhanced education; implement a pilot scheme to subsidise chronic patients to receive comprehensive treatment, follow-up and care support from private practitioners; and, set up multi-disciplinary teams at designated General Out-patient Clinics to provide chronic patients with integrated care.
(To be continued)
Ends/Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Issued at HKT 12:08
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