Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ16: Manpower deployment of radiographer grade staff

Following is a question by the Hon Michael Mak and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, in the Legislative Council today (June 2):

Question:

Will the Government inform this Council:

(a) the respective numbers of staff of the radiographic technician or radiographer grades employed by the Department of Health and the Hospital Authority (HA) as at the end of each of the past six years, with a breakdown of the figures by their ranks;

(b) the numbers of new and known patients serviced by HA radiographers in each of the past six years, and the average waiting time of patients; and

(c) the number of staff of the above two grades permitted to retire early under the two rounds of voluntary retirement scheme and the voluntary early retirement scheme implemented by the Government and HA respectively, and whether recruitment will be held by the authorities concerned to fill the vacancies?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) The number of radiographers and radiographic technicians employed by the Hospital Authority (HA) and the Department of Health (DH) respectively, together with a breakdown by rank, as at the end of the past six financial years are given in the Annex I and II.

(b) Radiographers employed by the HA are deployed in both inpatient and outpatient settings. While the therapeutic radiographers mainly serve patients in the oncology specialty, diagnostic radiographers are dispersed in acute & emergency departments, general and specialist outpatient clinics and in different specialties. For management purposes, radiographers are required to keep records of the services provided, but the HA does not routinely collate information on the total number of patients served by radiographers across the entire organisation.

(c) The number of staff of the Radiographer grades in the HA, who have been permitted to retire early under the two rounds of the Government's voluntary retirement scheme and the HA's voluntary early retirement programme, are shown in Annex III.

The HA will monitor closely the needs for radiographic service and recruit replacements for the posts vacated by the retirees, if necessary. Subject to the actual wastage in the remainder of the current financial year, the preliminary projection of the HA is that it will recruit seven radiographers at the entry ranks in 2004-05.

As for the radiographers and radiographic technicians working in DH, a total of two radiographers and four radiographic technicians have been permitted to retire early under the two rounds of the Government's voluntary retirement scheme. Under the rules of the Scheme, DH is required to delete the same number of posts in the relevant grades from the establishment after the departure of the staff concerned.

Ends/Wednesday, June 2, 2004

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Legislative Council Question 16

Annex I

Number of Radiographers employed by HA

Grade/Rank	Mar-99	Mar-00	Mar-01	Mar-02	Mar-03	Mar-04
Diagnostic Radiographer Grade
Senior Diagnostic Radiographer/Department Manager	57	55	53	52	50	46
Diagnostic Radiographer I	375	375	373	373	370	364
Diagnostic Radiographer II	204	203	233	239	236	250
Graduate Diagnostic Radiographer					23	26
Sub-total	636	633	659	664	679	686
Therapeutic Radiographer Grade
Senior Therapeutic Radiographer/Department Manager	19	19	18	18	18	17
Therapeutic Radiographer I	63	63	63	63	63	62
Therapeutic Radiographer II	57	56	58	63	63	60
Graduate Therapeutic Radiographer					2	6
Sub-total	139	138	139	144	146	145
Total	775	771	798	808	825	831

Note: there is no radiographic technician under the employment of the HA.

Legislative Council Question 16

Annex II

Number of Radiographers and Radiographic Technicians

employed by DH

Grade/Rank	Mar-99	Mar-00	Mar-01	Mar-02	Mar-03	Mar-04
Radiographer Grade
Senior Radiographer	2	2	2	2	2	2
Radiographer I	12	10	10	12	12	12
Radiographer II	18	17	16	14	13	12
Contract Radiographer	0	6	4	9	9	12
Sub-total	32	35	32	37	36	38
Radiographic Technician Grade
Senior Radiographic Technician	5	4	4	1	1	1
Radiographic Technician	8	8	7	6	5	5
Sub-total	13	12	11	7	6	6
Total	45	47	43	44	42	44