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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) Chairman, Mr Anthony Wu, welcomed the announced by the Government today (February 25) on the substantial increase in the recurrent budget allocation to the Authority over the next three years by nearly $900 million a year.
¡§By 2011-12, the annual funding allocation will be $2.6 billion higher than the current financial year (2008-09) and the accumulative increase will be more than $5 billion over the next three years. The continuous support of the Government reflects its confidence in HA and commitment to providing quality health care services to the community,¡¨ remarked Mr Wu.
¡§As in the past, the HA will utilise the resources in the most efficient manner. With the implementation of the new ¡¥Pay for Performance¡¦ internal resource allocation system, we are able to have a more accurate assessment of the utilisation and effectiveness of the allocated funding. Internal resources allocation will be more effective and fair by offering incentives to departments providing quality services. With the additional allocation, we will continue to enhance our service quality and standards as well as boosting staff morale in a vigorous and flexible manner to further public confidence and trust.¡¨
Mr Wu added that HA will also support the Government policy direction to create more employment opportunities this year by opening up around 1,000 extra posts for medical, nursing, allied health, administrative, support services and construction workers. ¡§Most of the new posts are created for long-term employment and the additional manpower will help enhance service quality of public hospitals as well as accelerating hospital improvement projects.¡¨
In elaborating the key programmes in the coming fiscal year, HA Chief Executive, Mr Shane Solomon, said that the additional provision in 2009-10 will be able to cover funding requirement arising from ageing and growing population, improving service quality and patient safety, and modernising equipment and capital facilities.
¡§With the additional funding from the Government, more patients will benefit from HA services. For instance, we will be able to provide 25,000 additional hospital episodes (around 2% increase), 112,000 additional specialist outpatient attendances (around 2% increase), and 127,000 additional day hospital and community outreach attendances (around 3% increase).¡¨
In particular, a total of around 150 additional beds will be provided in New Territories West Cluster (NTWC) and Kowloon East Cluster (KEC). The new beds will be opened at Pok Oi Hospital, Tuen Mun Hospital and Tseung Kwan O Hospital. Around $56 million and $35 million will be allocated to NTWC and KEC respectively for this purpose.
Mr Solomon also highlighted service enhancement in mental health services and primary care and chronic disease management.
¡§We will strengthen mental health services through new initiatives such as recovery support programme for psychiatric patients in the community by providing 14,400 outreach visits; setting up triage clinics at psychiatric Specialist Outpatient Clinics to provide 10,500 attendances for newly referred psychiatric patients; and extending the psychogeriatric outreach programme to additional residential care homes for the elderly.¡¨
¡§Primary care and chronic disease management will also be enhanced through healthcare reform initiatives that include establishing multi-disciplinary teams to provide risk assessment and targeted management to diabetic and hypertensive patients,¡¨ remarked Mr Solomon.
Other key programmes to be implemented in 2009-10 are as follows:
- Enhance service provision for life threatening diseases including chemotherapy, oncology service, cytogenetic service, haemodialysis, liver transplantation, blood services and acute cardiac care
- Extend community geriatric assessment service to additional residential care homes for the elderly
- Launch a three-year pilot scheme for accreditation in public hospitals to improve patient safety
Ends/Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Issued at HKT 21:28
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