Press Releases

Government responds to concerns of Association of HK Nursing Staff

In response to the open letter of the Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff on the workload of frontline nurses, a spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau said today (March 16):

"The Government has been very concerned about the extra workload and pressure brought to the frontline healthcare staff of the Hospital Authority (HA), including nurses, by the winter surge of seasonal influenza this year. We are thankful for their dedication to taking care of patients in such a difficult situation.

To cope with the demand for public healthcare services in the winter surge, the HA has adopted a series of measures to meet the demand of the public, ease the work pressure of the staff and increase manpower, for example, increasing the service quota of general outpatient clinics by about 2 000 per week, enhancing the service capacity of convalescent hospitals and transferring patients with stable condition to convalescent hospitals in a hospital cluster, reducing hospital admission for non-emergency cases and postponing elective surgery, as well as lowering the minimum application threshold for special honorarium to one hour.

The Government and the HA will closely monitor the manpower and use of healthcare services during the surge. We will maintain communication with the frontline nurses and adopt further contingency measures in a timely manner. The HA is arranging a meeting with the Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff for further exchanges and follow up."

Ends/Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Issued at HKT 20:19

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