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Following is a question by the Hon Wong Kwok-kin and a reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (June 25):
Question:
The Chief Executive stated in his 2014 Policy Address that strategic planning would be made for building a new acute general hospital at the Kai Tak Development Area (the Kai Tak Hospital). It has been reported that according to the latest assessment, the completion date of the Kai Tak Hospital, which the authorities originally forecast to be 2020 at the earliest, may be deferred to 2023. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(1) if the Hospital Authority (HA) has assessed, based on the current progress, whether the service planning and technical feasibility study for the Kai Tak Hospital can be completed within this year as scheduled; the latest progress of the service planning; whether, based on the authorities' latest assessment, the hospital can be completed in 2020; if so, of the detailed timetable and the expected time for submission of funding applications to the Legislative Council; if not, the details of the reasons for that; and
(2) if HA has assessed the impacts of the failure to complete the Kai Tak Hospital in 2020 on the redevelopment of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, on the service quality of the Hong Kong Children's Hospital upon commissioning and on the planning of the overall healthcare services in Kowloon; of HA¡¦s measures to mitigate such impacts?
Reply:
President,
To meet the healthcare service demand of Hong Kong in the long run, the Government has reserved a site in the Kai Tak Development (KTD) area for the development of healthcare facilities, including the Hong Kong Children's Hospital (HKCH) which is under construction and the proposed acute general hospital. With the funding approval of the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council in June 2013, the construction of the HKCH has already commenced. To cater for the long-term overall demand for healthcare services in Kowloon, we have asked the Hospital Authority (HA) to conduct the relevant strategic planning and studies with a view to implementing the plan of constructing an acute general hospital of a larger scale in the KTD area as soon as possible.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(1) The HA is conducting the relevant strategic planning and studies on the construction of a new acute general hospital in the KTD area in order to gauge the healthcare service needs of Kowloon and the Kai Tak area. Technical assessment and analysis of clinical needs are also carried out to ensure that the provision of healthcare services will cope with the development and demographic changes of the area. The proposed hospital will provide clinical services of major specialties, including accident and emergency service. The planning and technical feasibility study for the construction of the new hospital are expected to be completed this year. As the relevant studies are still in progress, the completion date of the proposed general hospital has yet to be finalised. Upon the completion of the planning work, HA can formulate a more concrete timetable for the hospital development project. We will then seek funding approval in accordance with the established procedures so as to implement the construction plan of the general hospital in the KTD area as soon as possible.
(2) The HA plans to develop a hospital group in Kai Tak which can provide holistic healthcare services. The group of hospitals will include a paediatric hospital and a major general acute hospital with a neuroscience centre.
The ground-breaking ceremony of the HKCH was held on February 25, 2014 and the construction of the HKCH is now in full swing. The hospital is scheduled for completion in 2017 and will commence service in phases starting from 2018.
The HKCH will be the first hospital commencing service in the KTD area. During its initial stage of operation, the HKCH will be supported by other general hospitals. In the long run, its operation mode will be different from the paediatric departments of conventional general hospitals. The HKCH will focus on handling complex and rare paediatric cases which require multi-disciplinary management. Other public hospitals will continue to provide emergency care, general paediatric specialty care and community care services for paediatric patients, while complex cases such as children's cancer, cardiological and advanced nephrological cases will be referred to the HKCH. The HKCH will work in close collaboration with paediatric departments and relevant specialties of various hospital clusters to establish a co-ordinated and coherent paediatric service network that provides patients with the most suitable care. HA is planning for the future operation of the HKCH as well as its co-ordination and support arrangement with other hospitals.
On the other hand, HA is reviewing and assessing the demand for and supply of healthcare services in Kowloon, as well as developing the clinical services plans of the Kowloon Central Cluster and the Kowloon East Cluster. During the planning process, the long-term healthcare demand of local residents will be considered, and the direction of future service development of hospitals in the clusters (including the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH)) and their co-ordination with other hospitals will also be worked out according to the demand projection and services plans. The review and the services plans are expected to be completed within this year. HA will continue to keep in close view the healthcare service needs in the area and deploy resources appropriately to ensure the provision of appropriate healthcare services for the local community.
The redevelopment of the QEH is still in the preliminary planning/conceptual stage and the Administration has yet to finalise a plan.
Ends/Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Issued at HKT 15:33
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