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The Hospital Authority (HA) at its Administrative and Operational Meeting today (December 22) discussed some initiatives being considered by the management as a result of suggestions put forward by staff to address staff morale issues. The ideas mainly come from staff work groups established specifically to look into issues affecting staff morale.
The first group which has reached conclusion is mainly made up of frontline doctors and one of the key suggestions is to consider granting increments to doctors employed after 15 June 2002, who, under the current practice, would only be eligible for one increment every two years during their contract term of service. The group also recommends that any increases must be linked to performance to recognise high performance. Another key suggestion is on the extention of residents¡¯ contract to nine years.
HA Board members noted that similar proposals for all work groups of staff would soon be presented to the HA¡¯s Human Resources Committee.
The long working hours of doctors has all along been a concern of management. HA is determined to take proactive steps to improve the situation. In the next three years, HA intends to bring down the weekly work hours of doctors to no more than 65 hours per week for all doctors. This target may be achievable by initiatives like restructuring call duties, flexi-hours duty, cross specialty call coverage, etc.
HA Board agreed that the above mentioned initiatives are in general positive and might be able to address some staff concerns.
Ends/Thursday, December 22, 2005
Issued at HKT 19:10
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