LCQ21: Medical and dental benefits for civil servants and eligible persons
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Following is a question by the Hon Chan Han-pan and a written reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Clement Cheung, in the Legislative Council today (February 8):
Question:
At present, civil servants and eligible persons (CSEPs) are entitled to free medical and dental services provided by the Hospital Authority (HA) or the Department of Health (DH). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of (i) the respective numbers of attendances of CSEPs for the various medical and dental services under HA and DH, as well as (ii) the respective public expenditure incurred for providing such services, in each of the past five years (set out the information in Table 1);
Table 1
| Medical and dental services | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |||||
| (i) | (ii) | (i) | (ii) | (i) | (ii) | (i) | (ii) | (i) | (ii) | |
| General outpatient clinic services | ||||||||||
| Specialist outpatient clinic services | ||||||||||
| Accident and emergency services | ||||||||||
| Inpatient services | ||||||||||
| Families clinic services | ||||||||||
| Dental services | ||||||||||
| Others | ||||||||||
| Total: | ||||||||||
(2) of the total expenses, which were reimbursed to CSEPs in each of the past five years, for purchasing items from HA or outside required for medical treatment;
(3) whether it knows the total daily number of discs issued by the general outpatient clinics under HA and, among them, the number of priority discs reserved for serving civil servants (priority disc); the annual average usage rate of priority discs in the past five years;
(4) of the annual (i) consultation quota of and (ii) patient attendance at each of the five families clinics under DH in the past five years (set out the information in Table 2); whether the authorities will consider reallocating the unused quotas for use by the general public; if they will, of the specific arrangements; if not, the reasons for that;
Table 2
| Name of families clinic |
2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |||||
| (i) | (ii) | (i) | (ii) | (i) | (ii) | (i) | (ii) | (i) | (ii) | |
| 1. Chai Wan Families Clinic | ||||||||||
| … | ||||||||||
| Total: | ||||||||||
(5) of the annual (i) consultation quota of and (ii) attendance at each of the 40 dental clinics under DH in the past five years (set out the information in Table 3); whether the authorities will consider reallocating the unused quotas for use by the general public; if they will, of the specific arrangements; if not, the reasons for that; and
Table 3
| Name of dental clinic | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |||||
| (i) | (ii) | (i) | (ii) | (i) | (ii) | (i) | (ii) | (i) | (ii) | |
| 1. Aberdeen Jockey Club Dental Clinic | ||||||||||
| … | ||||||||||
| Total: | ||||||||||
(6) given that, among the dental clinics mentioned in (5), 11 clinics also provide dental general public sessions (GP sessions) for use by the public, of the respective daily consultation quotas for (i) CSEPs and (ii) GP sessions, as well as (iii) the ratio of these two types of quotas at present for each of those clinics (set out the information in Table 4)?
Table 4
| Name of dental clinic with GP Sessions | Consultation quotas | ||
| (i) | (ii) | (iii) | |
| 1. Kennedy Town Community Complex Dental Clinic | |||
| … | |||
| Total: | |||
Reply:
President,
As an employer, the Government has an obligation to provide medical and dental benefits to civil servants under their employment contracts. At present, around 540 000 serving civil servants, pensioners and their eligible dependants (civil service eligible persons (CSEPs)) are entitled to such benefits.
Our reply to the different parts of the question is as follows:
(1) At present, the Department of Health (DH) is providing services to CSEPs through five Families Clinics and 40 Government Dental Clinics. The attendances and actual expenditures of these clinics in the past five years are set out in the table below:
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | ||||||
| Attend ances ^ |
Expen diture # ($m) |
Attend ances ^ |
Expen diture # ($m) |
Attend ances ^ |
Expen diture # ($m) |
Attend ances ^ |
Expen diture # ($m) |
Attend ances ^ |
Expen diture # ($m) |
|
| Families Clinics | 228 000 | 76.3 | 229 000 | 85.4 | 247 000 | 98.6 | 253 000 | 102.2 | 273 000 | 124.8 |
| Govt Dental Clinics | 569 000 | 437.0 | 600 000 | 453.1 | 656 000 | 484.7 | 687 000 | 547.5 | 708 000 | 597.5 |
| Total: | 797 000 | 513.3 | 829 000 | 538.5 | 903 000 | 583.3 | 940 000 | 649.7 | 981 000 | 722.3 |
#The expenditures are calculated for the financial year ending 31 March of the year
Statistics on the utilisation of Hospital Authority’s (HA) general out-patient (GOP), specialist out-patient (SOP), accident and emergency (A&E) and inpatient services by CSEPs in the past five years are set out in the table below:
| 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | ||
| GOP services attendances^ | 722 000 | 752 000 | 771 000 | 776 000 | 796 000 | |
| SOP services attendances^ | 1 026 000 | 1 053 000 | 1 084 000 | 1 109 000 | 1 131 000 | |
| A&E attendances^ | 149 000 | 147 000 | 143 000 | 138 000 | 139 000 | |
| Inpatient bed days occupied^ | 344 000 | 358 000 | 381 000 | 383 000 | 393 000 | |
The annual subvention provided by the Government to HA has basically included the resources required for the provision of medical benefits to CSEPs. The expenditures calculated on the basis of attendances by CSEPs using HA services and the average unit cost of service provision in the past five years are set out in the table below:
| |
2011-12 ($million) |
2012-13 ($million) |
2013-14 ($million) |
2014-15 ($million) |
2015-16 ($million) |
| GOP services | 210 | 236 | 262 | 283 | 313 |
| SOP services | 1,047 | 1,155 | 1,225 | 1,319 | 1,400 |
| A&E services | 128 | 138 | 150 | 156 | 169 |
| Inpatient services | 1,501 | 1,659 | 1,827 | 2,015 | 2,191 |
| Other services | 86 | 93 | 105 | 108 | 118 |
| Total: | 2,972 | 3,281 | 3,568 | 3,881 | 4,191 |
(2) For drugs, equipment and services that are prescribed by the attending HA/DH doctors according to medical necessity but are not available in HA/DH, CSEPs may apply to DH for reimbursement of the expenses incurred. For drugs on HA’s list of self-financed items and some specified self-financed equipment/services that are available in HA as chargeable items, CSEPs may also apply to DH for direct payment of the expenses incurred to HA. The expenditures in this regard in the past five years are set out in the table below:
| 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 |
| $289.9 million |
$303.6 million |
$351.8 million |
$400.3 million |
$410.0 million |
(3) In 2015-16, the 73 GOP clinics (GOPCs) under HA provided services for nearly six million attendances. Some of these GOPCs provided around 550 000 priority discs (i.e. a daily quota of around 2 000) in that year to serving civil servants during day sessions except on Sundays or public holidays. The purpose of the arrangement is to enable colleagues to return to work as soon as possible after having received proper treatment. For the past five years, the utilisation rate of the priority discs was around 60%, and any unused timeslots were released to members of the public on the same day.
(4) Each consultation room of a Family Clinic can provide services for about 8 000 attendances a year, and the overall utilisation rate is as high as 99%, leaving us no room to release any quota for use by the public. The attendances of CSEPs at each Families Clinic in the past five years are set out in the table below:
| 2012^ | 2013^ | 2014^ | 2015^ | 2016^ | |
| Chai Wan Families Clinic | 64 000 | 62 000 | 63 000 | 64 000 | 66 000 |
| Hong Kong Families Clinic | 69 000 | 64 000 | 67 000 | 68 000 | 68 000 |
| Kowloon Families Clinic | 60 000 | 62 000 | 69 000 | 75 000 | 73 000 |
| New Territories Families Clinic | 35 000 | 41 000 | 48 000 | 46 000 | 50 000 |
| Fanling Families Clinic | NA | NA | NA | NA | 16 000* |
| Total: | 228 000 | 229 000 | 247 000 | 253 000 | 273 000 |
*Fanling Families Clinic commenced service on 30 March 2016
(5) The Government Dental Clinics offer appointments of three durations (namely 15 minute-interval, 30 minute-interval and 45 minute-interval). As the nature and complexity of the treatment of individual cases vary, there is no fixed consultation capacity for the Government Dental Clinics. As the overall utilisation rate of all the Government Dental Clinics is close to 100%, there is no room to release any quota for use by the public. The attendances of CSEPs at each dental clinic in the past five years are set out in the table below:
| 2012^ | 2013^ | 2014^ | 2015^ | 2016^ | |
| Aberdeen Jockey Club Dental Clinic | 10 000 | 9 000 | 10 000 | 10 000 | 10 000 |
| Harbour Building Orthodontic Clinic | 9 000 | 12 000 | 16 000 | 16 000 | 16 000 |
| Harbour Building Dental Clinic | 20 000 | 26 000 | 29 000 | 29 000 | 28 000 |
| Chai Wan Government Dental Clinic | 20 000 | 19 000 | 20 000 | 20 000 | 21 000 |
| Kennedy Town Community Complex Dental Clinic | 19 000 | 19 000 | 19 000 | 21 000 | 20 000 |
| MacLehose Dental Clinic 2/F | 12 000 | 12 000 | 11 000 | 11 000 | 11 000 |
| MacLehose Dental Clinic 6/F | 37 000 | 36 000 | 37 000 | 36 000 | 36 000 |
| Hong Kong Police College Dental Clinic | 2 000 | 2 000 | 2 000 | 2 000 | 2 000 |
| Queensway Government Offices Dental Clinic | 30 000 | 30 000 | 30 000 | 31 000 | 31 000 |
| Sai Ying Pun Dental Clinic 3/F | 3 000 | 4 000 | 4 000 | 4 000 | 6 000 |
| Sai Ying Pun Dental Clinic 8/F | - | 4 000 | 6 000 | 9 000 | 11 000 |
| Tang Shiu Kin Dental Clinic | 15 000 | 16 000 | 19 000 | 22 000 | 24 000 |
| Victoria Road Dental Clinic | 2 000 | 2 000 | 2 000 | 3 000 | 3 000 |
| Wan Chai Dental Clinic | 40 000 | 40 000 | 40 000 | 38 000 | 38 000 |
| Western Dental Clinic | 4 000 | 4 000 | 4 000 | 4 000 | 5 000 |
| Cheung Sha Wan Government Offices Dental Clinic | 68 000 | 68 000 | 72 000 | 74 000 | 73 000 |
| Kowloon City Dental Clinic | - | 9 000 | 29 000 | 39 000 | 40 000 |
| Kwun Tong Dental Clinic | 10 000 | 9 000 | 7 000 | 11 000 | 14 000 |
| Kwun Tong Yung Fung Shee Dental Clinic | - | 5 000 | 13 000 | 16 000 | 17 000 |
| Li Po Chun Dental Clinic | 15 000 | 16 000 | 17 000 | 17 000 | 17 000 |
| Yau Ma Tei Dental Clinic | 33 000 | 34 000 | 34 000 | 38 000 | 38 000 |
| Yau Ma Tei Orthodontic Clinic | 24 000 | 19 000 | 23 000 | 25 000 | 29 000 |
| Castle Peak Hospital Dental Clinic | 10 000 | 11 000 | 12 000 | 11 000 | 12 000 |
| Cheung Chau Dental Clinic | 1 000 | 1 000 | 1 000 | 1 000 | 1 000 |
| Fanling Health Centre Dental Clinic | 26 000 | 27 000 | 28 000 | 27 000 | 26 000 |
| Ha Kwai Chung Government Dental Clinic | 13 000 | 14 000 | 14 000 | 14 000 | 14 000 |
| Kwai Chung Hospital Dental Clinic | 3 000 | 3 000 | 3 000 | 3 000 | 3 000 |
| Ma On Shan Dental Clinic | 12 000 | 14 000 | 14 000 | 14 000 | 14 000 |
| Madam Yung Fung Shee Dental Clinic | 14 000 | 14 000 | 15 000 | 15 000 | 16 000 |
| Mona Fong Dental Clinic | 4 000 | 4 000 | 4 000 | 4 000 | 4 000 |
| Pamela Youde Government Dental Clinic | 22 000 | 22 000 | 25 000 | 26 000 | 26 000 |
| Sheung Kwai Chung Government Dental Clinic | - | - | - | 6 000 | 20 000 |
| Tai O Dental Clinic | <1 000 | <1 000 | <1 000 | <1 000 | <1 000 |
| Tai Po Wong Siu Ching Dental Clinic | 15 000 | 15 000 | 16 000 | 16 000 | 16 000 |
| Tseung Kwan O Dental Clinic | 18 000 | 21 000 | 23 000 | 22 000 | 24 000 |
| Tsuen Wan Dental Clinic | 14 000 | 14 000 | 13 000 | 9 000 | - |
| Tsuen Wan Government Offices Dental Clinic | 17 000 | 18 000 | 16 000 | 18 000 | 17 000 |
| Tung Chung Dental Clinic | 8 000 | 8 000 | 9 000 | 8 000 | 8 000 |
| Yan Oi Dental Clinic | 9 000 | 10 000 | 10 000 | 9 000 | 9 000 |
| Yuen Long Jockey Club Dental Clinic | 10 000 | 9 000 | 9 000 | 8 000 | 8 000 |
| Total: | 569 000 | 600 000 | 656 000 | 687 000 | 708 000 |
(6) DH also provides free emergency dental treatments to the public through designated sessions in 11 Government Dental Clinics. The scope of service of these sessions covers treatment of acute dental diseases, prescription for pain relief, treatment of oral abscess and teeth extraction. Details are set out at Annex.
Ends/Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Issued at HKT 17:05
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