Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ3: Kowloon East Cluster
Following is a question by the Hon Wong Kwok-kin and a written reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today
(October 26):
Question:
According to the information of the Hospital Authority (HA), in 2009, the
Kowloon East Cluster (KE Cluster) with its catchment area covering Kwun Tong and
Tseung Kwan O, served a population of 954,000, which was the fourth highest
catchment population among the seven hospital clusters; and 13.4% of its
catchment population were aged 65 or above (i.e. 127,836 persons in total),
which was the third highest among all clusters. However, the funding allocated
to the KE Cluster in 2010-2011 was only $3.2 billion (accounting for 10.1% of
HA's total allocation), which was the smallest amount of allocation among all
clusters. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council, whether
it knows:
(a) given that the population size of Kwun Tong District accounts for more than
half of the catchment population in the KE Cluster, and the population in the
district comprises mainly the grassroots and the elderly, who have a strong
demand for public healthcare services, yet the allocation to the KE cluster was
obviously smaller, the reasons for that;
(b) among the population in the KE Cluster's catchment area, the number of
people who sought medical consultations in other clusters over the past five
years; whether HA will, in the light of the population profile in the catchment
area, re-deploy more resources to cater for the growing demand for public
healthcare services from the grassroots and the elderly in that cluster; if it
will, the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) the current progress of the plan to reserve land at Kai Tak for the
construction of the Kai Tak Hospital; the expected time of completion and
commissioning of the hospital; the specific details of the facilities and
services to be provided by the hospital, as well as the expected number of
persons to be served annually?
Reply:
President,
(a) When allocating resources to various clusters under its resource allocation
and service planning mechanism, the Hospital Authority (HA) will take into
account factors such as its priority service areas, service needs of the
community, provision of primary and specialist services, new service programmes
and initiatives etc, in addition to the population and demographic profiles of
various regions. HA will also adjust its funding allocation to various clusters
having regard to their respective expenditures for implementing new service
programmes, staff training, updating equipment and purchasing drugs etc, so that
the clusters can provide suitable services to the public.
To cope with the increasing service demand in the region, HA has allocated
additional resources to the Kowloon East (KE) Cluster over the past few years to
provide about 60 additional beds and implement a number of service improvement
initiatives. These include provision of additional cataract surgeries,
enhancement of clinical oncology services, and introduction of palliative care
for patients with end stage renal disease etc. In 2011-12, HA will set up a new
cataract centre in Tseung Kwan O Hospital and continue to enhance specialist
services in the KE Cluster, including psychiatric service, antenatal and
postnatal services etc.
On the other hand, the Administration will continue to allocate additional
resources to improve facilities of the KE Cluster. The expansion of Tseung Kwan
O Hospital (TKOH) will be completed in 2013. By then, the number of inpatient
beds and day beds in TKOH will increase to 636 and 140 respectively, and the
number of consultation rooms in the specialist outpatient department will
increase to 70. Other services and facilities of the Hospital will also be
expanded accordingly to meet its increased service capacity. Taking into account
the long-term service needs of the Kowloon East region and the views of local
residents reflected to the Administration through the Kwun Tong District
Council, the Government will support HA to expand the United Christian Hospital.
New facilities and services to be provided under the expansion project include a
cancer centre in the KE Cluster, an ambulatory centre and
rehabilitation/convalescent beds. Facilities such as the accident and emergency
department, intensive care unit, operation theatres and specialist outpatient
clinic will also be expanded. HA will seek funding approval in accordance with
the established procedures, with a view to commencing the works as soon as
possible.
(b) In general, cross-cluster utilisation of public healthcare services is very
common among patients and is not a phenomenon unique to the KE Cluster. The
reasons for cross-cluster uitlisation of services varied among patients. For
example, some patients have been arranged to receive services at specialist
centres in other clusters under HA's referral mechanism; and some others who
have moved home wish to seek cross-cluster services in the hospitals they used
to attend in order to be followed up by the same team of medical staff.
Cross-cluster utilisation of services is more noticeable in the Kowloon clusters
given their high accessibility by transportation.
According to the figures of HA, among the cases involving inpatients living in
the KE Cluster, the percentage of those using services in other clusters dropped
from 32% in 2006 to 27% in 2010. Among the cases served by the KE Cluster in the
past five years, about 16% to 18% each year involved residents of other
clusters.
As mentioned above, HA takes into account factors such as population and
demographic profiles, demand for and utilisation of services of various regions
in the planning of services and facilities and the allocation of resources for
the clusters.
(c) A site has been reserved in the Kai Tak Development Area for hospital use,
including the development of a Centre of Excellence in Paediatrics (CEP). We
have reached an initial consensus on the scale, facilities and areas of the CEP.
The Administration will brief the Panel on Health Services of the Legislative
Council (LegCo) on the detailed timetable, estimated completion date, target
number of patients, as well as estimated cost of the CEP after we have completed
examination of the relevant issues. We plan to seek funding approval from the
Finance Committee of the LegCo in 2012. Other medical projects to be launched at
the site are under study and preliminary planning, and no specific proposals are
available now.
Ends/Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Issued at HKT 15:41
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