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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) today (Wednesday, 12 March) announced that a special fund of $20 million has been set aside to implement a series of measures run up to end of April this year to cope with recent surge in demand for public hospital services due to seasonal influenza.
Speaking to the media at a visit to the North District Hospital this afternoon, Mr Shane Solomon, the Chief Executive of HA said that public hospitals were experiencing a prolonged increase in emergency demand lately, in particular the emergency medical admissions.
¡°Compared with February last year, the daily number of emergency medical admissions is 16 percent higher. At the same time, recent admission to paediatric wards in public hospitals has also surged.¡±
¡°This sudden and unprecedented surge in demand in medical and paediatric wards, as well as in the Accident & Emergency Departments, have created great pressure on our frontline staff, who have responded with great commitment and dedication. Our frontline staff have worked extra hours, with many of them cancelling leave, working longer hours and on their days off.¡±
¡°Over the last two weeks, an additional 15,000 hours of extra nursing and supporting staff have worked, adding the equivalent of 192 full-time staff to the wards.¡±
¡°We would also like to commend our frontline staff who have already worked many excess hours during this flu season. They will be offered the option of cashing out the ¡®compensation off¡¯ hours they have accumulated since the beginning of February, which is estimated to be around 40,000 hours.¡±
¡°We will also offer a Special Honorarium Scheme to staff who are willing to work extra shifts or sessions to relieve the pressure in the busy areas.¡±
Mr Solomon said that in line with normal practice, as medical wards have become full, hospitals will arrange to overflow patient into other wards.
To cope with the recent surge, various hospital clusters have opened extra beds and implement other initiatives to cope with patient needs. Some key measures are as follows:
- A total of 547 beds were used to accommodate the extra demand by paediatric and medical patients in various hospitals
- Geriatricians and paediatricians are helping in the Accident and Emergency Department to assess whether patients need to be admitted
- Ward rounds by senior doctors have been increased to ensure timely discharge
- Pathology tests and x-rays have been fast-tracked for fever patients to allow early diagnosis and discharge
Mr Solomon also reassured the public that HA will closely monitor the situation on a daily basis to plan for further measures.
¡°A new system of contingency plan will be implemented with a two-staged response. For stage one, where the occupancy of a ward is over 100 percent but less than 115 percent for at least three days, the hospital concerned is expected to implement early contingency response, such as overflow of patients to less busy wards, adding nursing and supporting staff to the affected ward.¡±
¡°For stage two, where occupancy of a ward is over 115 percent for at least three days, a higher level of response will be implemented, including reduction of non-urgent surgery so that available beds and nursing staff would be redeployed to assist the high pressure wards,¡± said Mr Solomon.
Ends/Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Issued at HKT 20:22
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