Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ20: Complaints about public hospitals

        Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Cheng and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (June 8):

 

Question :

 

        Regarding complaints about public hospitals' health care services, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

 

(a)    the number of complaints received by the relevant authorities in each of the past three years, together with a breakdown by public hospitals and the types of services involved (such as general out-patient, specialist out-patient and in-patient services, etc);

 

(b)    if the number of complaints against public hospitals has been on the rise over the past three years; if so, of the impact of this trend on the operation of public hospitals;

 

(c)    the respective amounts of compensation paid and litigation costs borne by the Hospital Authority (HA) last year in respect of medical malpractice claims, as well as the administrative costs incurred for processing such claims; and

 

(d)    if it has assessed the implications of HA's resources reduction in recent years on the number and nature of complaints against public hospitals?

 

Reply :

 

Madam President,

 

(a) The number of complaints received by the Hospital Authority (HA) in the past three years are 1,774 in 2002, 1,882 in 2003 and 2,148 in 2004 respectively.  A breakdown of these complaint cases by hospital groups is set out in the table below -

 

Hospital Group        2002   2003  2004

Group 1                  1,203  1,401  1,645

Group 2                  224       223    183

Group 3                   47        36       29

Group 4                  120       88     149

Group 5                  150       134    142

Total                       1,744  1,882  2,148

 

Note : Definition of Hospital Groups

 

Group 1 General acute hospitals with 24 hour A&E services

Group 2 Hospitals with a mix of acute and non-acute services

Group 3 Non-acute or infirmary hospitals

Group 4 Psychiatric hospitals

Group 5 Acute hospitals of special nature

 

        The HA does not routinely collate breakdown figures on the number of complaints made against its specialist out-patient and in-patient services.  Nevertheless, the HA has been keeping a separate record of complaints on general out-patient services since 2004, shortly after it took over the management of 59 General Out-patient Clinics from the Department of Health in mid-2003.  In 2004, the HA received a total of 584 complaints against its general out-patient services. 

 

(b)    The number of complaints received by the HA was on a slight upward trend in recent years (1,642 cases in 2000, 1,650 cases in 2001, 1,744 cases in 2002).  There was a more notable increase from 1,882 cases in 2003 to 2,148 cases in 2004 (14 per cent increase), but no particular discernable factor can be identified for the increase.

 

        In respect of the impact on the operation of public hospitals, there has been a corresponding increase in the workload of hospital management and HA's Public Complaints Committee in complaint handling and investigation in recent years.  In addition, hospital staff would understandably be under additional pressure when the number of complaints increases.  Nevertheless, the HA is also taking complaints very positively and regard them as opportunities to benefit from user feedback.  There have been many cases in the past where the HA was able to identify instances of system deficiencies and areas for improvement in the care process through the investigation of complaints.  

 

(c)    The amount of compensation paid and the amounts of legal costs incurred by the HA for medical malpractice claims in 2004 are set out in the table below -

 

Year         No. of cases settled with compensation          Amount of Legal Costs

(& Settlement Amount)                                Incurred

2004         37 cases (Approx. $18.4 M)                           $6.9 M

 

The administrative costs for processing these claims have been absorbed internally by HA's medical staff and its Legal Services Section.

 

(d)       The HA does not have any evidence showing a causal relationship between the reduction of Government subvention for the HA and the number and nature of complaints against public hospitals.

 

Ends/Wednesday, June 8, 2005

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