ANNUALPLAN2018-19An Overview

IntroductionThe Hospital Authority (HA) delivers a comprehensive range of subsidised

healthcare services ranging from acute, convalescence and rehabilitation, through

to community care. The Annual Plan outlines the major programmes and activities

that HA will focus on for the next 12 months. The annual planning process involves

a broadly participative approach, where clinical specialties, Clusters and Head

Office Divisions converge and plan ahead for HA’s service provision in the coming

financial year, with guidance from Members of the HA Board and Committees.

Planning ContextOverall, the priorities of the Annual Planning Exercise are guided by the strategic

directions outlined in the HA Strategic Plan 2017-2022. The annual planning

process channels resources to specific programmes for translating the Strategic

Plan into actions. Annual Plan 2018-19 is the second action plan for carrying out

the five-year Strategic Plan.

The Government’s Steering Committee on Review of HA released its Review

Report in July 2015 with 10 recommendations on five major areas that impact on

HA’s operation and service provision. In response, HA has formulated a set of

actions corresponding to each recommendation, which are being implemented

gradually over three years. The relevant initiatives to be implemented in 2018-19

are highlighted in this Annual Plan.

Strategic Goals and Programmes TargetsIn Annual Plan 2018-19, five strategic goals and 24 strategies will be implemented

by HA through around 160 corresponding programme targets. They are

developed in accordance with the three strategic foci of the Strategic Plan, namely

(i) provide patient-centred care, (ii) develop a committed and competent

workforce, and (iii) enhance financial sustainability.

The strategic goals, which set out what HA wants to achieve, are as follows

corresponding to the respective strategic focus:

Provide Patient-centred Care• Improve service quality

• Optimise demand management

Develop a Committed and Competent Workforce• Attract and retain staff

• Enhance staff training and development

Enhance Financial Sustainability• Drive accountable and efficient use of financial resources

Improve Service QualityTo improve service quality, HA will continue to promote day services and

collaborative care, develop more care options, refine technology adoption, and

reinforce clinical risk management. Examples include the following:

• Strengthen day surgery together with additional provision of pre-operative

assessment services

• Establish a centralised multi-disciplinary Palliative Care (PC) team in Hong Kong

Children’s Hospital to support territory-wide paediatric PC service

• Enhance nurse clinic services in urology, rheumatology, clinical oncology and

peri-operative care

• Reinforce community-based care, including Community Geriatric Assessment

Team support for terminally ill patients living in elderly homes, PC home care

service, community nursing service, and community psychiatric service

• Extend to all District Elderly Community Centres the medical-social

collaborative care model for patients with dementia

• Extend the pilot programme of school-based medical-education-social

collaboration together with the Education Bureau and Social Welfare

Department to enhance support for students with mental health needs

• Develop HA-wide guidelines and standards on organ donation to improve the

consistency of care

• Modernise the genetic service of HA by adopting Sensitive Analysis of Foetal

DNA for Trisomy 21 testing as the second tier screening test for Down syndrome

• Establish HA’s first Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Centre at Pamela Youde

Nethersole Eastern Hospital

• Screen blood donations with Zika virus testing to protect pregnant patients

Optimise Demand ManagementHA will further enhance services for time-critical care, increase the capacity of high

demand services and share out the demand with community partners. Examples

include:

• Hospital capacity: Over 500 beds in total will be added across Clusters in the

coming year. In addition, the operating hour of the Accident and Emergency

(A&E) service at Tin Shui Wai Hospital will be extended to 24-hour, and the new

Hong Kong Children’s Hospital will commence operation by phases in 2018 to

provide tertiary services for complex and rare paediatric cases.

• High demand life threatening diseases: Cancer care will be reinforced by

adding the capacity of chemotherapy and oncology services. There will be

additional cluster-based 24-hour intra-venous thrombolysis service for acute

ischaemic stroke patients, and more hospital haemodialysis places for patients

with end-stage renal disease. Cardiac care will be strengthened with the

provision of 24-hour Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention service in

Kowloon Central Cluster.

• Services with pressing issues of waiting time and access: HA will set up

another joint replacement centre, which is located at Tseung Kwan O Hospital.

Furthermore, additional operating theatre sessions, endoscopic sessions,

Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Specialist Outpatient Clinic attendances will

be provided to address the waiting time issues. The General Outpatient Clinic

quotas will also be increased to improve the access of target population groups

to public primary care services.

• Public-Private Partnership (PPP): HA will continue to strengthen PPP

programmes for cataract surgeries, radiological imaging, haemodialysis,

primary care, colon assessment and infirmary services with qualified service

providers in the community.

Drive Accountable and Efficient Use of Financial ResourcesHA will enhance the development and use of costing information to facilitate the

review, analysis, monitoring and comparison of service costs, and to better

understand changes in service cost over time. Specifically, service costing

database will be enhanced in 2018-19 by linking cost information with activity

data so that meaningful costing information can be generated to identify

opportunities for service enhancement or transformation.

BudgetUnder the new triennium funding arrangement, the recurrent funding from the

Government for 2018-19 amounts to $61.5 billion, which covers over 90% of HA’s

total expenditure. HA will continue to utilise the government subvention and its

internal resources to implement various initiatives for meeting the challenges of

the increasing service demand and ageing population. For 2018-19, HA will be

able to support a total of around

• 1.81 million inpatient and day inpatient discharge episodes

• 2.26 million A&E attendances

• 7.49 million specialist outpatient (clinical) attendances

• 2.73 million allied health (outpatient) attendances

• 6.37 million primary care attendances

• 2.07 million community outreach visits

Attract and Retain StaffHA will facilitate flexible employment, enhance the career progression of staff,

improve staff engagement and communication, and reinforce ways to foster

occupational safety and health. Relevant measures include:

• Set up a Locum Office to facilitate flexible employment and increase part-time

workforce to alleviate manpower pressure

• Continue the Special Retired and Rehire Scheme to re-employ suitable staff

upon their retirement or completion of service

• Enhance the career progression and remuneration of supporting staff working in

inpatient services

• Roll out HA Chat to all eligible staff and implement new modules of Human

Resources Mobile Application

• Provide additional personal protection equipment and emergency medical

team uniform items for A&E staff to reinforce their emergency preparedness in

dealing with radiation, hazardous materials incidents and other major incidents

Enhance Staff Training and DevelopmentThere are continued efforts to strengthen staff training and development. Key

initiatives include:

• Establish a HA Institute of Health Information Technology (IT) to elevate

healthcare IT related education, experience sharing and innovation

collaboration

• Provide nursing staff with opportunities for clinical attachment at PC units to

strengthen their competency in supporting terminally ill patients

• Continue to reinforce simulation training and corporate scholarship programme

for clinical staff, intern training programme for local medical graduates,

preceptorship scheme for junior nurses, and mediation skills training for

frontline staff

© Copyright 2018 by Hospital AuthorityThe full version can be downloaded from the Hospital Authority website: www.ha.org.hk

IntroductionThe Hospital Authority (HA) delivers a comprehensive range of subsidised

healthcare services ranging from acute, convalescence and rehabilitation, through

to community care. The Annual Plan outlines the major programmes and activities

that HA will focus on for the next 12 months. The annual planning process involves

a broadly participative approach, where clinical specialties, Clusters and Head

Office Divisions converge and plan ahead for HA’s service provision in the coming

financial year, with guidance from Members of the HA Board and Committees.

Planning ContextOverall, the priorities of the Annual Planning Exercise are guided by the strategic

directions outlined in the HA Strategic Plan 2017-2022. The annual planning

process channels resources to specific programmes for translating the Strategic

Plan into actions. Annual Plan 2018-19 is the second action plan for carrying out

the five-year Strategic Plan.

The Government’s Steering Committee on Review of HA released its Review

Report in July 2015 with 10 recommendations on five major areas that impact on

HA’s operation and service provision. In response, HA has formulated a set of

actions corresponding to each recommendation, which are being implemented

gradually over three years. The relevant initiatives to be implemented in 2018-19

are highlighted in this Annual Plan.

Strategic Goals and Programmes TargetsIn Annual Plan 2018-19, five strategic goals and 24 strategies will be implemented

by HA through around 160 corresponding programme targets. They are

developed in accordance with the three strategic foci of the Strategic Plan, namely

(i) provide patient-centred care, (ii) develop a committed and competent

workforce, and (iii) enhance financial sustainability.

The strategic goals, which set out what HA wants to achieve, are as follows

corresponding to the respective strategic focus:

Provide Patient-centred Care• Improve service quality

• Optimise demand management

Develop a Committed and Competent Workforce• Attract and retain staff

• Enhance staff training and development

Enhance Financial Sustainability• Drive accountable and efficient use of financial resources

Improve Service QualityTo improve service quality, HA will continue to promote day services and

collaborative care, develop more care options, refine technology adoption, and

reinforce clinical risk management. Examples include the following:

• Strengthen day surgery together with additional provision of pre-operative

assessment services

• Establish a centralised multi-disciplinary Palliative Care (PC) team in Hong Kong

Children’s Hospital to support territory-wide paediatric PC service

• Enhance nurse clinic services in urology, rheumatology, clinical oncology and

peri-operative care

• Reinforce community-based care, including Community Geriatric Assessment

Team support for terminally ill patients living in elderly homes, PC home care

service, community nursing service, and community psychiatric service

• Extend to all District Elderly Community Centres the medical-social

collaborative care model for patients with dementia

• Extend the pilot programme of school-based medical-education-social

collaboration together with the Education Bureau and Social Welfare

Department to enhance support for students with mental health needs

• Develop HA-wide guidelines and standards on organ donation to improve the

consistency of care

• Modernise the genetic service of HA by adopting Sensitive Analysis of Foetal

DNA for Trisomy 21 testing as the second tier screening test for Down syndrome

• Establish HA’s first Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Centre at Pamela Youde

Nethersole Eastern Hospital

• Screen blood donations with Zika virus testing to protect pregnant patients

Optimise Demand ManagementHA will further enhance services for time-critical care, increase the capacity of high

demand services and share out the demand with community partners. Examples

include:

• Hospital capacity: Over 500 beds in total will be added across Clusters in the

coming year. In addition, the operating hour of the Accident and Emergency

(A&E) service at Tin Shui Wai Hospital will be extended to 24-hour, and the new

Hong Kong Children’s Hospital will commence operation by phases in 2018 to

provide tertiary services for complex and rare paediatric cases.

• High demand life threatening diseases: Cancer care will be reinforced by

adding the capacity of chemotherapy and oncology services. There will be

additional cluster-based 24-hour intra-venous thrombolysis service for acute

ischaemic stroke patients, and more hospital haemodialysis places for patients

with end-stage renal disease. Cardiac care will be strengthened with the

provision of 24-hour Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention service in

Kowloon Central Cluster.

• Services with pressing issues of waiting time and access: HA will set up

another joint replacement centre, which is located at Tseung Kwan O Hospital.

Furthermore, additional operating theatre sessions, endoscopic sessions,

Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Specialist Outpatient Clinic attendances will

be provided to address the waiting time issues. The General Outpatient Clinic

quotas will also be increased to improve the access of target population groups

to public primary care services.

• Public-Private Partnership (PPP): HA will continue to strengthen PPP

programmes for cataract surgeries, radiological imaging, haemodialysis,

primary care, colon assessment and infirmary services with qualified service

providers in the community.

Drive Accountable and Efficient Use of Financial ResourcesHA will enhance the development and use of costing information to facilitate the

review, analysis, monitoring and comparison of service costs, and to better

understand changes in service cost over time. Specifically, service costing

database will be enhanced in 2018-19 by linking cost information with activity

data so that meaningful costing information can be generated to identify

opportunities for service enhancement or transformation.

BudgetUnder the new triennium funding arrangement, the recurrent funding from the

Government for 2018-19 amounts to $61.5 billion, which covers over 90% of HA’s

total expenditure. HA will continue to utilise the government subvention and its

internal resources to implement various initiatives for meeting the challenges of

the increasing service demand and ageing population. For 2018-19, HA will be

able to support a total of around

• 1.81 million inpatient and day inpatient discharge episodes

• 2.26 million A&E attendances

• 7.49 million specialist outpatient (clinical) attendances

• 2.73 million allied health (outpatient) attendances

• 6.37 million primary care attendances

• 2.07 million community outreach visits

Attract and Retain StaffHA will facilitate flexible employment, enhance the career progression of staff,

improve staff engagement and communication, and reinforce ways to foster

occupational safety and health. Relevant measures include:

• Set up a Locum Office to facilitate flexible employment and increase part-time

workforce to alleviate manpower pressure

• Continue the Special Retired and Rehire Scheme to re-employ suitable staff

upon their retirement or completion of service

• Enhance the career progression and remuneration of supporting staff working in

inpatient services

• Roll out HA Chat to all eligible staff and implement new modules of Human

Resources Mobile Application

• Provide additional personal protection equipment and emergency medical

team uniform items for A&E staff to reinforce their emergency preparedness in

dealing with radiation, hazardous materials incidents and other major incidents

Enhance Staff Training and DevelopmentThere are continued efforts to strengthen staff training and development. Key

initiatives include:

• Establish a HA Institute of Health Information Technology (IT) to elevate

healthcare IT related education, experience sharing and innovation

collaboration

• Provide nursing staff with opportunities for clinical attachment at PC units to

strengthen their competency in supporting terminally ill patients

• Continue to reinforce simulation training and corporate scholarship programme

for clinical staff, intern training programme for local medical graduates,

preceptorship scheme for junior nurses, and mediation skills training for

frontline staff