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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) will further enhance the transparency of specialist clinic waiting times by extending the public reporting of waiting times on its website to gynaecology services starting from today (July 31).
"The posting and regular updating of waiting times on the HA website for selected specialist out-patient services and surgical operations started in April this year to help patients understand the waiting time situation in public hospitals, so as to facilitate their consideration of treatment plans and choices," the HA spokesman said.
The spokesman added that following the pilot arrangements in the specialty of ear, nose and throat (ENT) between Kowloon East Cluster and Kowloon Central Cluster, centrally co-ordinated cross-cluster referral arrangements had also started between New Territories East Cluster (NTEC) and Hong Kong East Cluster for the routine category of gynaecology patients without imminent need for first consultation.
"There is currently a large disparity in waiting times between the two clusters as the high volume of obstetric cases in NTEC has left limited room for various initiatives to shorten waiting times for the less urgent gynaecology cases, though urgent and semi-urgent cases could still be seen within the target median waiting times of within two weeks and eight weeks respectively," the spokesman said.
Waiting time information is posted on the HA Homepage under the "Specialist Out-patient Clinics" and "Elective Surgery" sections of the "Service Guides". The waiting time information will be updated on a quarterly basis.
Waiting time information reporting, now covering the specialist out-patient clinics of ENT and gynaecology and cataract surgery, will be extended progressively to other specialties and procedures upon alignment of waiting time capturing and reporting logistics in different hospitals and specialties.
Ends/Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Issued at HKT 11:21
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