Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ12: Telephone booking system for general out-patient clinics
Following is a question by the Hon Fernando Cheung and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (July 12):
Question:
The Hospital Authority (HA) implemented a pilot telephone booking system in five
general out-patient clinics (GOPCs) in Hong Kong East in November last year.
Patients with episodic illnesses may book appointments by telephone for
consultation and treatment on the same day or the next day. The system was
extended to the remaining seven GOPCs on Hong Kong Island in January this year.
In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(a) the number of persons who have made use of the telephone booking system and
obtained discs for consultation so far, and
(i) a breakdown of this number by age groups (above 60, 45-60, below 45) and
their respective percentages; and
(ii) the percentage of this number in the total number of persons who have
obtained discs in the same period;
(b) the respective current numbers of discs reserved daily, by each clinic
involved in the pilot system for patients who use the telephone booking system
and for those who come in person, and the respective average daily numbers of
patients who use the telephone booking system and those who come in person, but
are not given discs;
(c) the detailed results of the assessment of the pilot system, including
whether there is no recurrence of the situation in which patients queue in
person for discs in the small hours; and
(d) when HA plans to extend the telephone booking system to the other GOPCs
under its management?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) According to the statistical data of the Hospital Authority (HA), the
average usage rate of the telephone booking system is close to 50% since its
trial implementation at 12 general out-patient clinics (GOPCs) on Hong Kong
Island in January this year, and in terms of percentage, people of different age
groups who have used this system are on the rise. Take the number of people who
have used the booking service in February and June this year as an example, the
statistical data on the use of the service for these two months are as shown in
the Table.
(b) For patients with episodic illnesses, the HA does not set aside separate
consultation slots for those who make appointment bookings by telephone and
those coming to the clinics in person. The same pool of consultation slots are
allocated concurrently to them on a first come (or first call), first served
basis. The computer system of the telephone booking service can automatically
search and arrange an available slot in another clinic within the same district
if all the consultation slots of a certain clinic have been allocated. The HA
also displays in all clinics the number of slots available in other clinic(s)
within the same district. This can help those patients who come to the clinic in
person to arrange for a consultation appointment as quickly as possible. Since
the implementation of the above measures, the daily number of turn-away patients
due to insufficient slots per clinic has been reduced to around 2 to 10 persons.
(c) & (d) The HA found that the telephone booking system, after rolled out on a
trial basis at GOPCs on Hong Kong Island for more than six months, has been
generally well and positively received by the public. Long waiting queues
outside those clinics are now a rare scene. HA plans to fully implement the
telephone booking system at all GOPCs in Kowloon and the New Territories in the
second half of 2006. Specifically, the service will be introduced to the 15
GOPCs in the New Territories in October and the remaining GOPCs in Kowloon
thereafter. The HA will sustain its efforts to publicise the operation of the
telephone booking system and how to use the service. Appropriate instructions
and other arrangements will also be made to the elderly patients and the
disabled, such as through publicity efforts in out-patient clinics and elderly
centres, to facilitate a wider use of this new booking service among them and
other members of the public.
Ends/Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Issued at HKT 13:04
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Table on LCQ12