Following is a question by the Hon Chan Hok-fung and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, in the Legislative Council today (January 21):

Question:

     Currently, the North Lantau Hospital (NLTH) provides accident and emergency (A&E) services. However, according to the Government's reply to a question I raised on March 19 last year, if patients at NLTH require emergency surgeries or have complex medical conditions, either support will be provided by the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) or the patients will be transferred to PMH for further treatment. Furthermore, some residents of the Islands District have relayed to me that patients requiring transfer from NLTH to PMH often have to wait over five to eight hours before being transferred and receiving treatment. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) whether it knows, in the past three years, the number of cases where patients attending the NLTH A&E department required transfer to PMH for further treatment, and the percentage of such cases in the total number of patients attending the A&E department; whether it has compiled statistics on the average waiting time for such transfers;

(2) whether it knows if the Hospital Authority (HA) will review the entire transfer process mentioned in (1), including administrative and treatment procedures and ambulance arrangements, and study ways to shorten the time from admission to treatment, as well as the waiting time for transfers; if HA will, of the details (including the timetable for review);

(3) whether it knows if HA has conducted an in-depth analysis of the data mentioned in (1) to assess and enhance the service capacity of the NLTH A&E department, thereby reducing the number of patients transferred from NLTH to other hospitals within the cluster and alleviating the burden on those hospitals; if HA has, of the details; and

(4) given that upon completion of the development of Tung Chung New Town and its extension area, the population of the Islands District is projected to increase from approximately 190 000 in 2024 to 320 000, whether the Government knows if HA has specific plans in place to assist NLTH in coping with the anticipated increase in demand for medical services and enhance the NLTH A&E services?

Reply:

President,

     In consultation with the Hospital Authority (HA), the reply to the question raised by the Hon Chan Hok-fung is as follows:

     At present, there are 18 public hospitals under the HA with Accident and Emergency (A&E) services, providing timely services for people with urgent needs such as those who are critically ill or seriously injured and victims of disasters. To ensure people with urgent needs may receive care with priority, the A&E Departments implement a patient triage system where patients are classified into five categories, namely Category I (Critical), Category II (Emergency), Category III (Urgent), Category IV (Semi-urgent) and Category V (Non-urgent) based on their clinical conditions, and will receive treatment as prioritised by their urgency categories. 

     The target of HA’s A&E services is to have the first three categories of patients receive immediate and priority treatment, and specifies that all Critical (100 per cent) patients will receive immediate treatment, and most Emergency (95 per cent) and Urgent (90 per cent) patients shall be treated within 15 or 30 minutes upon arrival at the A&E Departments. Since A&E Departments have to deploy healthcare staff to attend to more urgent patients, patients triaged as Semi‑urgent or Non‑urgent will therefore experience longer waiting times. The conditions of patients in these two categories are generally relatively stable and not life‑threatening, such as influenza infection or gastrointestinal discomfort which are stable episodic illnesses, most of these cases can be treated by Family Medicine Out-patient Services or private clinics.

(1) to (3) The HA adopts a cluster-based service model to strengthen co-ordination among hospitals within each cluster, such that hospitals with different positioning may support one another and share resources, conducive to enhancement of operation and management efficiency. Hospitals within each cluster may receive support from the major acute hospital regarding specialist services, manpower and facilities when necessary, thereby providing more effective patient care.

     The North Lantau Hospital (NLTH) commenced services in September 2013. Within the Kowloon West Cluster (KWC), NLTH is positioned as a district hospital mainly to provide services to residents on the Lantau Island. NLTH has 180 beds, providing A&E service, inpatient service as well as ambulatory care services (including specialist outpatient services, Community Health Centre, allied health services and community care services). Pharmacy, diagnostic radiology and pathology services are also provided. 

     According to the HA’s data, the A&E Department of NLTH handles about 70 000 to 80 000 cases each year. In the past three years (2023 to 2025), the average waiting times for Critical, Emergency and Urgent patients were 0 minutes, 7 minutes and 21 minutes respectively. For Semi-urgent and Non-urgent patients, the average waiting times were 100 minutes and 110 minutes respectively.

     The healthcare staff in NLTH will provide patients attending the A&E Department of NLTH with initial treatment and stabilise their conditions. As a district hospital, NLTH’s inpatient services mainly include emergency medicine wards and extended care wards. Cases requiring appropriate care in other specialty wards, surgeries or intensive care would be referred to the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) after undergoing clinical assessment by doctors. By then, patients will be further categorised into Priority 1 (urgent) and Priority 2 (semi‑urgent) for transferring to PMH for further treatment, based on the urgency of the needs for referral. An average of around 9 000 to 10 000 A&E patients were referred to PMH each year, accounting for about 12 per cent to 14 per cent of total attendances. Over the past three years, the average waiting time for Priority 1 referrals (including clinical assessment, ambulance arrangement and administrative co-ordination) was around 20 minutes, while that for Priority 2 referrals was about 119 minutes.

     To further shorten patient waiting time and enhance referral efficiency, the A&E Department of NLTH has implemented the Designated Point‑to‑Point Transfer Programme (The Programme) since June 2022. The Programme targets Priority 2 cases requiring transfer to PMH without the need for escort by healthcare staff, and further streamlines the referral workflow. Measures include prioritised co-ordination of ambulance resources, streamlining administrative procedures and strengthening real‑time communication with PMH. For eligible cases, the average waiting time for transfer has been reduced by about 30 per cent. The A&E Department of NLTH will also continue to strengthen training for healthcare staff to equip them with more knowledge and skills for taking better care of patients’ needs.

     The HA has been closely monitoring healthcare service utilisation and patient waiting time to devise plans for enhancing efficiency and patient safety. The HA conducts regular reviews with the Fire Services Department on interhospital ambulance transfer arrangements; reviews resource allocation, waiting time and referral indicators within the KWC from time to time; and increases bed capacity and specialist service quotas to reduce the need for case referrals and shorten the waiting time. In addition, the HA has also implemented intra‑cluster support mechanisms, e.g. two‑way referral arrangements between PMH and NLTH to balance service demand between the two hospitals. Besides, the HA also activates special measures during long holidays and demand surge, including strengthening manpower deployment and increasing bed capacity; and co-ordinating various workflow arrangements like admission, discharge and transfer through the Hospital Command Centre so as to optimise the availability of beds for incoming patients.

(4) The HA plans and develops various public healthcare services on a cluster basis, taking into account a range of factors, including the increase in service demand as a result of population growth and demographic changes, rising prevalence of chronic diseases, technology advancement, manpower availability, as well as service arrangement of the clusters. At present, Tung Chung falls within the catchment area of the KWC, where the five hospitals, namely PMH, Caritas Medical Centre, Yan Chai Hospital, Kwai Chung Hospital and NLTH, provide a comprehensive range of clinical services to residents in the district. In planning future hospital services, the HA will take into account the increase in healthcare service demand arising from projected population growth of relevant districts.

     Meanwhile, the HA is committed to providing the public with diversified one‑stop primary healthcare services. To meet the primary healthcare needs due to population growth in Tung Chung, the North Lantau Family Medicine Integrated Centre has further expanded its service scope, including enhanced preventive screening and nursing services to help participants manage risk factors for chronic diseases, preventing chronic diseases at an early stage and reducing related complications, thereby alleviating pressure on A&E services. The HA will take reference of the latest service demand projections and monitor the utilisation of healthcare services within the KWC to undertake cluster‑level planning and adjust service provision within cluster, with a view to meeting the healthcare needs of its patients (including residents of Tung Chung).

Ends/Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Issued at HKT 15:00

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