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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) Board today (March 24) discussed and endorsed at the Administrative and Operational Meeting the recommendations on the General Services Assistant (GSA) / Technical Services Assistant (TSA) Grade Review to set up a new clear grading structure with better remuneration for the employment of frontline supporting staff. The new structure will take effect from April 1, 2011.
The HA Deputising Head of Human Resources, Dr Derrick Au Kit-sing, welcomes the endorsement by the Board. Dr Au said, "There are about 12,000 supporting staff in the present broad categories of GSA/TSA. The stability and performance of this workforce is of great importance to public hospital services. For the past two years, the turnover of GSA/TSA remains high as it stood at 13.5% in 2009/10 and increased further to an annualised rate of 16.8% in 2010/11."
"From April 1, 2011, serving GSA/TSA will be arranged to convert into the new structure with better remuneration packages including an annual award to allow performing staff to progress to the maximum of the rank's pay range. The new grade structure delineates clearly the responsibilities among patient support, operation support and executive support work streams, enabling development of consistent job descriptions as well as competency requirements for different job streams for consistent application across all hospital clusters in HA. It also provides a clear training and career progression pathway for staff."
"HA treasures the contribution of this group of staff. It is our priority to improve their work conditions and morale so that a stable, competent and motivated workforce is here to support clinical professionals in the delivery of quality health care to the people of Hong Kong," Dr Au added.
HA launched a review on GSA/TSA grades in mid-2010 with the assistance of an external consultant firm. During the review process, over 3,000 written views have been solicited from line managers and frontline staff. The proposed reform and implementation plan have been extensively communicated to staff groups and more cluster staff communication forums are in the pipeline. HA will also continue to discuss with staff groups the details of the implementation plan after the endorsement by the Board.
Ends/Thursday, March 24, 2011
Issued at HKT 20:35
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