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In response to media enquiries on points raised by the Fire Services Department Ambulancemen's Union today (Wednesday), a Government spokesman explained the Administration's stance on emergency ambulance service (EAS).

The Ambulancemen's Union stated that planning for EAS should not be based on resources consideration or cost effectiveness, but on service requirements by the general public.

The spokesman said: "The Government agrees that adequate resources should be provided to maintain an effective level of EAS for the public. For that matter, additional manpower of some 400 staff or 20 per cent above the EAS establishment, and 45 ambulances and ambulance aid motorcycles have been approved since 1997/98 to enhance EAS for the public.

"With the significant increase in resources and other management measures, the EAS is now close to fulfilling its performance pledge by being able to respond to over 92 per cent (as against the target of 92.5 per cent) of emergency calls within a 12-minute response time."

He noted that the prevailing service level, i.e. response time within 12 minutes which Hong Kong citizens were enjoying, compared favourably with the standards in many metropolitan cities.

"For example, in the New South Wales urban areas, the EAS target is set at responding to 95 per cent of calls within a 15-minute response time only," he said.

"Included in the response time are an activation time, which represents the duration from the receipt of an emergency call to the successful location and deployment of an ambulance, and a travel time i.e. the time taken for the ambulance to arrive at scene," the spokesman explained.

In response to queries about the two minutes required for the activation process, the Government spokesman pointed out that two minutes was the actual recorded time according to data captured by the computer in the Fire Services Communication Center throughout a six-month period in September 1997 to March 1998.

Before the use of the trunked radio system in 1997, there had not been any reliable measurement of activation time.

"We expect that the EAS will achieve its pledged performance target in the second quarter of 1999 when another batch of trained ambulancemen render service. We will review then the feasibility to further reduce the 12-minute target response time.

"The Fire Services Department is also seeking to upgrade the computer system for mobilisation with a view to further improving the activation time," the spokesman said.

He noted that fire services did not adopt a uniform response time as in the case of EAS. Rather, a graded response time target ranging from six to 23 minutes applied depending on the different level of risks in different areas.

"As fire services differ from the EAS in terms of service profile and demand, as well as mode of operation, strict and direct comparison between the two performance indicators would not be appropriate," he concluded.

End/Wednesday, 11 November 1998

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