LCQ12: Medicine collection arrangements for patients amid epidemic
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Question:
It is learnt that in view of the coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic, the Hospital Authority (HA) has made arrangement of medicine collection without consultation for patients who are unable to attend clinics for follow-up consultations, and some pharmacy chains have also collaborated with the HA to provide service of medicine collection without consultation for patients of specialist outpatient clinics (SOPCs). However, some patients have relayed that under the arrangement of medicine collection without consultation, patients or family members who collect medicine on behalf of patients still have to attend clinics or pharmacies in person for medicine collection, and the risk of contracting the virus still exists in the process. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the current number of SOPC patients who need regular follow-up consultations in the various clusters of the HA, and set out in Table 1 a breakdown by specialty department (including (i) Ear, Nose and Throat, (ii) Ophthalmology, (iii) Gynaecology, (iv) Medicine, (v) Orthopaedics, (vi) Paediatrics, (vii) Psychiatry and (viii) Surgery);
Table 1
| Cluster | (i) | (ii) | (iii) | (iv) | (v) | (vi) | (vii) | (viii) |
(2) whether it knows if the HA has maintained the attendance of SOPC patients who opted for the arrangement of medicine collection without consultation in the various clusters between January 2021 and April 2022 (and the percentage of such attendance in the attendance of patients who needed follow-up consultations), and set out in Table 2 a breakdown by specialty department (including (i) Ear, Nose and Throat, (ii) Ophthalmology, (iii) Gynaecology, (iv) Medicine, (v) Orthopaedics, (vi) Paediatrics, (vii) Psychiatry and (viii) Surgery); if the HA has not maintained the relevant figures, of the reasons for that;
Table 2
| Cluster | (i) | (ii) | (iii) | (iv) | (v) | (vi) | (vii) | (viii) |
(3) whether it knows the measures put in place by the HA to assist patients who are unable to collect medicine on time due to severe epidemic situation; and
(4) whether it knows if the HA will consider collaborating with Hongkong Post or logistics companies to deliver medicine directly to the homes of patients who have opted for medicine collection without consultation in case of another outbreak of the epidemic, so as to reduce the risk of virus transmission; if the HA will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that, and the technical difficulties involved?
Reply:
President,
In consultation with the Hospital Authority (HA), the consolidated reply to the question raised by the Hon Alice Mak is as follows:
The table below sets out the number of first and follow-up attendances (provisional figures) of the specialist out-patient (SOP) services at each hospital cluster under the HA, by major specialties in 2021-22.
| Cluster/ Major Specialty |
Ear, Nose, Throat | Ophthalmology | Gynaecology | Medicine | Orthopaedics and Traumatology | Paediatrics | Psychiatry | Surgery | |
| SOP first attendances | Hong Kong East | 7 699 | 12 285 | 4 391 | 20 106 | 7 403 | 892 | 3 597 | 12 745 |
| Hong Kong West | 5 662 | 7 920 | 4 466 | 18 463 | 8 854 | 2 815 | 2 893 | 14 166 | |
| Kowloon Central | 14 649 | 25 168 | 9 088 | 24 355 | 11 668 | 4 393 | 2 317 | 29 006 | |
| Kowloon East | 9 071 | 17 070 | 6 595 | 22 752 | 12 846 | 3 345 | 6 350 | 21 064 | |
| Kowloon West | 10 425 | 16 595 | 6 634 | 22 602 | 12 698 | 4 075 | 11 589 | 25 178 | |
| New Territories East |
13 777 | 19 979 | 10 069 | 28 886 | 18 376 | 3 901 | 8 329 | 28 827 | |
| New Territories West | 12 132 | 19 143 | 5 760 | 17 133 | 11 435 | 2 649 | 6 292 | 21 675 | |
| SOP follow-up attendances | Hong Kong East |
35 384 | 108 914 | 21 926 | 297 981 | 56 098 | 11 805 | 88 448 | 78 242 |
| Hong Kong West |
26 429 | 82 973 | 38 047 | 283 764 | 55 391 | 19 807 | 69 707 | 118 619 | |
| Kowloon Central | 39 401 | 228 439 | 58 977 | 379 976 | 97 686 | 67 988 | 71 617 | 159 294 | |
| Kowloon East | 33 872 | 114 603 | 32 544 | 225 158 | 80 766 | 28 071 | 119 480 | 99 420 | |
| Kowloon West | 43 318 | 164 805 | 21 496 | 453 972 | 108 021 | 26 864 | 243 735 | 131 568 | |
| New Territories East |
52 055 | 159 223 | 29 686 | 379 586 | 104 941 | 29 325 | 154 712 | 110 923 | |
| New Territories West |
33 717 | 168 760 | 26 014 | 312 091 | 79 045 | 24 807 | 168 079 | 93 514 |
In response to the development of the COVID-19 epidemic, the specialist out-patient clinics (SOPCs) under the HA will adjust the non-emergency services according to operational needs, in order to concentrate manpower to take care of the most urgent patients and respond to the epidemic. In this regard, the HA has been making different arrangements in light of factors such as the development of the epidemic, service needs, preference of the patients and their clinical conditions, so as to reduce the impact on SOPCs patients.
Among them, in order to reduce the flow of people and risk of transmission in SOPCs, healthcare workers will allow some patients who have been assessed as suitable to choose to refill drugs directly without doctors' consultation. In addition, if patients are unable to attend appointment due to the epidemic, the healthcare workers of the clinics will also re-schedule the follow-up appointment for them according to individual circumstances, and refill drugs for patients according to their needs, so as to ensure that the patients can continue to receive the required medication during the waiting period. If necessary, patients can entrust their family members or caregivers to collect the refilled medications on their behalf, or they can approach community pharmacies or service organisations that provide drug collection and delivery services to make arrangements on their behalf. Patients can also contact the relevant clinics for follow-up arrangement if they are unable to collect the medication refill on time due to other reasons.
As the service adjustment arrangements of SOPCs are constantly changing with the development of the epidemic, the HA does not prepare statistics on various adjustment plans for non-emergency services (including drug collection without receiving doctors' consultation).
With the development of the epidemic, the HA understands that patients will have different needs for pharmaceutical services in public hospitals or clinics. The HA is actively formulating a development strategy and action plan on drug collection and delivery services (including exploring different logistics plans), with a view to improving service quality, benefiting more patients in need, and meeting the demand for medical services of the public. The HA welcomes suggestions from different groups or stakeholders to optimise pharmaceutical services in public hospitals and will continue to communicate closely with various sectors in order to provide patients with more service options.
Ends/Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Issued at HKT 16:48
Issued at HKT 16:48
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