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LCQ10: Accident and Emergency services of public hospitals
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     Following is a question by the Dr Hon Leung Ka-lau and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (May 29):

Question:

     In connection with the statistics on the services of the accident and emergency (A&E) departments of public hospitals for the year 2012-2013 (or, if such data are not available, statistics from January to December 2012), will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

(a) a breakdown of the average waiting time of patients by hospitals, A&E triage categories and the following six time slots (set out in a table of the same format as Table 1 for each time slot):

(i)    from midnight to 8 am on weekdays;
(ii)   from 8 am to 4 pm on weekdays;
(iii)  from 4 pm to midnight on weekdays;
(iv)   from midnight to 8 am on public holidays;
(v)    from 8 am to 4 pm on public holidays; and
(vi)   from 4 pm to midnight on public holidays;

(b) a breakdown of the numbers of attendances by hospitals, A&E triage categories and the time slots referred to in (a) (set out in a table of the same format as Table 1 for each time slot);

(c) the average numbers of doctors (broken down further according to the categories of doctors in Table 2) and nurses working in A&E departments, broken down by hospitals and the time slots referred to in (a) (set out in a table of the same format as Table 2 for each time slot);
 
(d) the numbers of part-time doctors and part-time nurses working in A&E departments, their total numbers of working hours and total remunerations, broken down by hospitals (set out in Table 3); and

(e) a breakdown by hospital of the numbers of doctors and nurses working in A&E departments who had worked overtime, their total hours of overtime work and total remunerations for overtime work (set out in a table of the same format as Table 3)?
 
Reply:

President,

     Accident and Emergency (A&E) services are mainly provided at 16 public hospitals under the Hospital Authority (HA).  They deliver a high standard of service for critically ill or injured persons who need urgent medical attention.  They also provide medical support for victims of disasters.  HA has adopted a triage system which classifies patients attending the A&E departments into five categories according to their clinical conditions so as to ensure that patients with more serious conditions are accorded higher priority in medical treatment.  To meet the surging demand for A&E services, HA has adopted a number of measures to augment healthcare manpower.  Such measures include implementing a pilot scheme to recruit additional staff, introducing special honorarium scheme (SHS) to attract doctors to work extra service sessions for A&E departments, recruiting non-local doctors under limited registration, appointing part-time doctors, and strengthening phlebotomist services and clerical support.

     The statistical figures pertaining to the A&E services of HA are set out in the tables provided by the Member in Annex.  
 
(a) The overall average waiting time of patients in A&E departments of HA hospitals by triage categories is listed in Table 4.

(b) The breakdown of the total number of attendances of A&E departments of various HA hospitals in 2012-13 (provisional figures) is listed in Table 5.

(c) The numbers of doctors and nurses in A&E departments under HA as at March 31, 2013 are listed in Table 6.

     Since the actual shift periods of doctors and nurses in A&E departments vary according to the conditions and operational needs of different hospitals, HA does not have a breakdown of the numbers of doctors and nurses working in different shift periods.

(d) The distribution of part-time doctors and part-time nurses recruited to A&E specialty in hospitals under HA as at March 31, 2013 is listed in Table 7.

     The expenditure on remuneration for part-time doctors and part-time nurses recruited to A&E specialty in 2012-13 is listed in Table 8.

(e) In 2012-13, a total of 316 A&E doctors and 417 A&E nurses worked extra service sessions in A&E departments, and the expenditure on overtime allowance/remuneration for overtime work performed by A&E doctors and nurses in HA hospitals amounted to about $29 million.  The breakdown by hospital is listed in Table 9.

     Moreover, HA has implemented a pilot scheme since February 2013 to recruit additional medical and nursing staff, in order to alleviate the work pressure in A&E departments and improve A&E services.  The recruitment targets are permanent and contract full-time medical and nursing staff currently serving in HA.  The scheme is piloted in 12 hospitals.  As at the end of April this year, there were a total of 191 doctors and 542 nurses taking part in the scheme, providing 595 consultation periods/sessions (each extra consultation period/session lasts for four hours).  Details of the distribution are listed in Table 10.

     As the scheme is still on pilot run, the total expenditure on remuneration is unavailable at this stage.

Ends/Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Issued at HKT 17:55

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