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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) will starting from today (April 15) post and regularly update the waiting times of selected specialist out-patient services and surgical operations on the HA Internet website www.ha.org.hk to help patients understand the waiting time situation in public hospitals, so as to assist in their consideration of treatment plans and choices.
The HA's Chief Manager (Quality and Standards), Dr Alexander Chiu, said that an earlier discussion of the HA Board supported the initiative to further enhance the accountability and transparency of the organisation.
"Currently, public hospitals have established triage arrangements to ensure timely consultation and treatment for patients prioritised according to their clinical condition."
Patients on referral for first appointment at Specialist Outpatient Clinics (SOPCs) will be triaged into urgent, semi-urgent and routine categories, with target median waiting times within two weeks and eight weeks respectively for the former two categories of patients.
"For the routine category of patients without imminent need for first consultation, cross-cluster referral arrangements are being piloted in specialties with large disparity in waiting times across hospital clusters. A centrally co-ordinated mechanism is established to provide an option for suitable patients seeking first consultation in ear, nose and throat in Kowloon East Cluster SOPCs to be seen in Kowloon Central Cluster," Dr Chiu said, adding that a similar arrangement is also being discussed within the specialty of gynaecology.
For elective procedures, the first one to be posted on the HA website is the waiting time for cataract surgery, for which there is already a referral mechanism in place for patients to be seen in hospitals with short waits.
"In the longer term, by bringing the waiting time situation into focus, resources will be allowed to be driven to areas of needs through the annual planning exercise for the benefit of patients at large," Dr Chiu remarked.
Waiting time information will be posted on the HA homepage under the "Specialist Outpatient Clinics" and "Elective Surgery" sections of the "Service Guides". The waiting time information will be updated on a quarterly basis.
Dr Chiu added that waiting time information reporting would be extended, in phases, to other specialties and procedures upon alignment of the waiting time gathering and reporting logistics in different hospitals and specialties.
Ends/Monday, April 15, 2013
Issued at HKT 14:44
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