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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 (June 24):
Question:
Regarding the shortage of and long-term manpower planning for nurses, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the number of nurses of public hospitals under the Hospital Authority (HA) who departed in the past 24 months, together with a breakdown by the hospital and clinical department to which the nurses who departed belonged, as well as by their rank and length of service;
(b) whether it knows whether HA has conducted any recruitment exercise for the vacancies mentioned in (a); if it has, of the number of vacancies which have been filled at present, broken down respectively by their rank and clinical department; if not all such vacancies have been filled, of the reasons for that; and
(c) whether the authorities have made any plan for the supply and demand for nurses from 2010 to 2015; if they have, of the specific supply and demand figures; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(a) As at March 31, 2009, the number of full-time equivalent nurses in the Hospital Authority (HA) was 19,522. In the past two years (i.e. 2007/08 to 2008/09), 1,721 nurses in the HA Head Office and various hospital clusters left service. In 2007/08, the number of departed nurses was 844, including 75 retiring nurses, and the overall turnover rate of nurses for the whole year was 4.5%. In 2008/09, the number of departed nurses was 877, including 97 retiring nurses, and the overall turnover rate of nurses for the whole year was 4.7%. The turnover figures of nurses in the HA Head Office and various hospital clusters by rank in 2007/08 and 2008/09 are at Table 1. The turnover figures of nurses in various clinical departments of HA by rank in the same period are at Table 2. The length of service of all ranks of departed nurses is at Table 3.
The turnover rates of HA nurses in 2007/08 and 2008/09 are slightly higher than the average nurse turnover rate of about 3% in the past 10 years. HA has introduced various new measures in recent years to enhance its efforts in the retention and recruitment of nurses, including raising the entry pay point for nurses in 2007, enhancing the career structure of nurses and reopening some of the nursing schools under HA in 2008.
(b) The filling of nurse vacancies generally depends on the personal preference of eligible applicants, market supply and demand as well as the overall economic environment. HA fills its nurse vacancies and strengthens its nursing manpower support through external recruitment and internal promotion. The number of nurse vacancies filled by HA through external recruitment and internal promotion in 2007/08 and 2008/09, with breakdown by rank, is at Table 4. These vacancies include newly created positions to cope with service and operational needs as well as vacancies arising from staff turnover. HA has recruited 671 and 874 nurses in 2007/08 and 2008/09, and promoted 461 and 1,112 serving nurses in the two respective years. In addition, as at March 31, 2009, a total of 1,662 temporary nursing staff (including nursing students) assisted in delivering nursing service in HA.
(c) The Administration constantly assesses the supply and demand of nursing manpower in Hong Kong to facilitate manpower planning. In view of the ageing population and rising public expectations on the quality of healthcare services, we expect that the local demand for nurses will remain strong. The actual demand will depend on various factors such as the demand for new services, departure of nurses from the nursing profession or turnover of nurses who have chosen to leave Hong Kong. As for the supply of nurses, we anticipate that there will be 993, 1,420 and 1,760 nurse graduates in Hong Kong in 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively.
Based on the demand for nursing manpower, the Administration makes suggestion to the University Grants Committee (UGC) from time to time on the number of places for nursing programmes, which serves as a reference for the institutions in formulating their academic plans. Taking account of the Government's suggestion, the UGC will provide 40 additional places for first-year nursing undergraduate programmes and 50 additional places for nursing associate degree programmes starting from the 2009/10 academic year, and 60 additional senior year intake places for nursing undergraduate programmes starting from the 2010/11 academic year. In addition, we have allocated additional recurrent funding to HA in 2009/10 to provide 200 and 350 additional training places for registered nurse and enrolled nurse respectively.
Ends/Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Issued at HKT 14:41
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