************************
Following is a question by the Hon Alice Mak and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, in the Legislative Council today (February 25):
Question:
The Policy Agenda of this year's Policy Address proposes to facilitate the further development of private hospitals with a view to ensuring the healthy development of a twin-track healthcare system in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the respective numbers of beds currently provided by various private hospitals, with a breakdown by hospital, type of ward and level of charge;
(2) whether it knows the monthly bed occupancy rates for various private hospitals in the past 24 months, with a breakdown by hospital, type of ward and level of charge;
(3) given that in the past, the Government included in the land leases granted to private hospitals conditions stipulating that such hospitals shall provide a specified number of free or low-charge beds, of the current number of private hospitals the leases of which contain such conditions and the details of the conditions (including the penalties for contravention of the conditions); how the authorities monitor such hospitals to see if they have really complied with such conditions;
(4) as some people have pointed out that the Government's implementation of the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme may lead to private hospitals raising bed charges and substituting low-charge beds for high-charge ones, what measures the authorities have in place to prevent occurrence of such a situation; and
(5) as it is proposed in the public consultation document on the Review of Regulation of Private Healthcare Facilities that new legislation be introduced for regulating private healthcare facilities, whether the authorities will consider including provisions in the new legislation or including conditions in the land leases to be granted to private hospitals to require these hospitals to provide a certain ratio of free or low-charge beds, so as to ensure that private healthcare services at reasonable charges are available for the public to choose; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The healthcare system in Hong Kong comprises both the public and private healthcare sectors which are complementary to each other. The public healthcare system is the cornerstone of our healthcare system and safety net to all Hong Kong citizens, providing them with equitable, quality and affordable healthcare services. The private healthcare sector mainly complements the public healthcare services by providing a choice for those who are able and willing to pay for private healthcare services. We will continue to maintain the dual-track healthcare system which has worked well over the years, and facilitate the balanced and sustainable development of the public and private healthcare sectors.
My reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(1) Under the Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Maternity Homes Registration Ordinance (Cap. 165) (the Ordinance), the Department of Health (DH) registers private hospitals fulfilling conditions relating to accommodation, staffing and equipment. The number of beds of each private hospital as at December 31, 2014 is set out below:
Hospital Number of beds
-------- --------------
Canossa Hospital 176
Evangel Hospital 67
Hong Kong Adventist Hospital 135
Hong Kong Baptist Hospital 754
Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital 539
Matilda and War Memorial Hospital 99
Precious Blood Hospital (Caritas) 158
St. Paul's Hospital 352
St. Teresa's Hospital 1 068
Tsuen Wan Adventist Hospital 153
Union Hospital 405
----- --------------
Total 3 906
According to the information provided by private hospitals, their number of beds in wards of different classes as at December 31, 2014 are as follows:
Classes of wards Number of beds
---------------- --------------
First Class Ward 355
Second Class Ward 643
General Ward 2 908
----- --------------
Total 3 906
The DH does not collect information regarding the number of beds in private hospitals by level of charge.
(2) The overall bed occupancy rates of private hospitals in 2012 and 2013 are 67% and 61% respectively. The DH does not collect information regarding the bed occupancy rates by type of ward and level of charge.
(3) Currently, two private hospitals are required to provide free or low-charge beds according to the land lease. In accordance with the conditions of land grants, the hospitals are required to provide not less than 20% of their beds as low-charge beds on the granted land, and one of the hospitals is also required to provide 20 free beds.
The DH conducts unannounced hospital inspections to examine the services of free and low-charge beds. In addition, private hospitals are required to regularly report the occupancy rate of the relevant beds to the DH. The DH will refer cases of contravention of the conditions of grants to the Lands Department for follow-up actions.
(4) The Minimum Requirements proposed under the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS) are to ensure that the public would be provided with basic protection in their health insurance so that they can choose to utilise private healthcare services at general ward level. In line with the implementation of VHIS, we will promote and facilitate the development of private hospitals with a view to expanding the overall service capacity of our healthcare system to cope with increasing demand for healthcare services. It is expected that the number of beds in private hospitals will see an increase of over 40% by 2020, which will help keep the price levels of private healthcare services under better check.
In fact, private hospitals are not allowed to arbitrarily change the ward configuration (such as the number of beds and ward compartments). Hospitals are required to apply to the licensing authority before any changes are made and demonstrate that the licensing requirements relating to accommodation, staffing and equipment would be met.
(5) In facilitating the development of private hospitals, we are committed to ensuring that the services provided by new hospitals are of good quality to cater for public needs. As such, we have formulated a set of special requirements for the development of private hospitals, including the provision of services at packaged charge and enhancement of price transparency.
For existing private hospitals undergoing expansion/redevelopment projects and new private hospitals to be developed mainly on private land, we will invite the relevant hospitals to consider, during the process of development, accepting the special requirements such as provision of services at packaged charge and enhancement of price transparency. The special requirements will be implemented by means of lease modification subject to the acceptance of the hospital operators.
With regard to the new private hospital development project at the Wong Chuk Hang site granted by the Government through open tender in 2013, according to the conditions of the lease taken out by the Government and the successful tenderer, the new private hospital will fulfil the requirements in respect of services at packaged charge and price transparency by using at least 51% of in-patient bed-days taken up in a year for provision of services to local residents through standard beds and packaged charging, and providing comprehensive charging information to the public.
Ends/Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Issued at HKT 16:47
NNNN