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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) signed a collaboration agreement on the "Hong Kong Patient Referral Project" with the Health, Population and Family Planning Commission (HPFPC) of Shenzhen Municipality. The project will facilitate the transfer of medical records of Hong Kong residents who are admitted to Shenzhen hospitals and would be referred back to Hong Kong for better continuity of care. Eligible patients are Hong Kong residents staying at the Shenzhen designated hospitals, and are clinically stable for transfer and voluntarily participate in the project. The project will first be piloted at two Shenzhen hospitals, while the two designated HA hospitals are Tuen Mun Hospital and North District Hospital.
Representatives of HA and HPFPC of Shenzhen Municipality participated in the signing of a collaboration agreement of the five year project at a ceremony in Shenzhen yesterday (March 30). The representatives of HA included Chairman, Mr Anthony Wu; Chief Executive, Dr Leung Pak-yin; and representatives from New Territories East Cluster, New Territories West Cluster, North District Hospital and Tuen Mun Hospital. Representatives of HPFPC of Shenzhen Municipality included Director General, Mr Jiang Hanping; Deputy Director General, Mr Xu Sihu; and representatives from the six designated Shenzhen hospitals.
Mr Wu said in the ceremony that there was an increasing number of Hong Kong residents working and residing at the Mainland. When Hong Kong people returned to the territory for medical treatment, public hospitals would be able to provide more efficient treatment if they could obtain the patient's medical information in Shenzhen. This pilot project would set up a formal communication channel between Shenzhen and public hospitals to facilitate the provision of better services to Hong Kong residents who came back to Hong Kong for treatment. This project represented a significant step forward in health service collaboration between Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
Mr Jiang said Shenzhen authorities were in full support of this project. He believed that there would be more collaboration between the health sectors in Shenzhen and Hong Kong in the future.
A total of six Shenzhen designated hospitals will participate in this project. After the signing of the collaboration agreement, the project will first be piloted at the Peking University Shenzhen Hospital and the Shenzhen Nanshan People's Hospital. Following a review and evaluation of the pilot stage, the project would be further expanded to the other four hospitals, including the Shenzhen People's Hospital, Shenzhen Second Hospital, the People's Hospital of Baoan Shenzhen and the Longgang Central Hospital of Shenzhen Municipality.
Hong Kong residents who are inpatients at a Shenzhen designated hospital and clinically stable for transfer could apply to the hospital for transfer of medical records. After the patient and/or his/her relatives understand and formally agree with the terms of transfer of medical information, and with the approval of the application by the Shenzhen designated hospital, prior notification will be sent to a Hong Kong receiving hospital, together with the medical information of the patient to facilitate continuity of treatment and care. Patients referred by Shenzhen Nanshan People's Hospital via the Shenzhen Bay control point will be received by Tuen Mun Hospital. Patients referred by Peking University Shenzhen Hospital via other land boundary control points will be received by North District Hospital. The patients are responsible for their own transportation. They will become HA patients after finishing the proper registration procedures at the Accident and Emergency Department of the receiving hospitals.
Ends/Thursday, March 31, 2011
Issued at HKT 20:31
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