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Following is a question by Dr Hon Joseph Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (March 3):
Question:
At present, the Hospital Authority (HA) makes an annual allocation for staff training and development, a part of which was used for training nurses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows, in each of the past three years:
(a) the amount of expenditure incurred by HA on training nurses, the percentage of such amount in the total allocation for training and development, and the number of nurses who received training, together with a breakdown by hospital cluster, rank and training hour;
(b) the number of training courses for nurses which were subsidised by HA, together with a breakdown by course type and number of places; whether the authorities will consider subsidising more training courses of different types as well as increasing the number of subsidised places, so as to enable more nurses to upgrade themselves and enhance the quality of healthcare services in a sustainable manner; and
(c) the number of applications for study leave submitted by nurses of public hospitals under HA for receiving training and, among such applications, the respective numbers of those approved and rejected, and the reasons for rejecting some applications; how the authorities deploy its manpower to facilitate nurses' participation in different training courses?
Reply:
President,
(a) In 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 (the first six months as at September 30, 2009), the total expenditures of the Hospital Authority (HA) on providing subsidies directly to its staff for participating in trainings or seminars organised by external organisations (excluding external training courses centrally coordinated and arranged by the HA Head Office and training courses organised internally by HA mentioned in part (b) of the reply) as well as the amount and percentage of the expenditure used to subsidise nurses are shown at Annex 1.
In these three years, the number of nurse attendances participating in these trainings with subsidies were 6,218, 7,066 and 1,075 respectively. A detailed breakdown of the figures by cluster and rank is at Annex 2. HA does not have information on the training hours.
(b) HA has all along attached importance to the training of nurses and encouraged them to pursue continuous learning with a view to enhancing their professional knowledge and competence on a continuous basis. HA has been providing training to nurses through various channels. Each year, the HA Head Office provides subsidies to servicing registered nurses for taking bachelor or master degree programmes in nursing provided by local or overseas institutions. Subsidies are also provided to enrolled nurses for attending programmes for conversion of enrolled nurse to registered nurse. In 2007-08 and 2008-09, HA subsidised about 340 nurses to take these courses each year with an annual expenditure of about $1.72 million. In 2009-10, the number of nurses subsidised to take these courses increases to 390 with an estimated expenditure of about $1.97 million.
Moreover, to enhance the quality of its nursing services and promote the professional development of nurses, HA has sponsored 44 nurses to attend specialist training courses overseas in 2009-10 with an expenditure of $2.55 million. In the meantime, to strengthen the clinical skills of newly graduated nurses, HA has also set up a new simulation laboratory on emergency clinical situation in 2009-10 to provide training to 342 newly graduated nurses with an expenditure of $1.5 million.
Furthermore, the Institute of Advanced Nursing Studies of HA also provides professional competence courses and specialty nursing certificate courses to nurses. This is to encourage nurses to pursue continuous learning and enhance the quality of nursing care. The number of nurse attendances participating in these training courses in 2007-08 and 2008-09 were 8,089 and 9,584 respectively. In 2009-10, in the light of the manpower deployment arrangements made in response to the human swine influenza epidemic, HA has ceased providing most of the training courses in May and June 2009. The number of nurse attendances participating in these training courses for the full year of 2009-10 is estimated at 9,000.
The HA Head Office and hospitals also organise various in-service non-clinical training courses (such as management courses) for their staff. In 2007-08 and 2008-09, the number of nurse attendances participating in these courses were 8,554 and 12,320 respectively. In 2009-10, in the light of the manpower deployment arrangements made in response to the human swine influenza epidemic, HA has ceased providing most of the training courses in May and June 2009. The number of nurse attendances participating in these training courses for the full year of 2009-10 is estimated at 9,500.
HA will continue to keep in view the training needs of nurses and review from time to time the content of the training programmes and the number of subsidy places, and make appropriate adjustments in the light of the circumstances.
(c) In 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 (as at December 31, 2009), the number of days of study leave approved for nurses of HA were 51,755, 43,842 and 30,456 respectively. HA does not have the information on the applications for study leave by nurses which were not approved. To facilitate the arrangements for nurses to receive training, various departments and wards of HA make appropriate arrangements in advance in drawing up the duty rosters so as to facilitate the participation of nurses in trainings as far as possible.
Ends/Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Issued at HKT 15:20
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