HASSC: The strongest support for healthcare services

Rising demand for healthcare services has brought with it continually increasing demand for patient support services. In response to this, the Hospital Authority Supporting Services Centre (HASSC) has gone into operation in phases from early this year, introducing a high degree of automation and robotics and further increasing its capacity by around 20% compared with the centre’s original design. When they go into full operation, the HASSC’s Central Laundry, Central Food Production Unit, and Information Technology Corporate Data Centre are expected to fulfil half of the HA’s service needs.

Central Emergency Store

During the COVID-19 epidemic, the HA reviewed its contingency stockpile target of personal protective equipment (PPE). The Central Emergency Store can now store some PPE contingency stockpile and three days of emergency linen supplies for the HA, strengthening its emergency response capabilities.

The Central Emergency Store for PPE is equipped with three automated guided vehicles and four rack shuttles for handling stock, helping reduce the risk of occupational injuries. A wireless radio frequency identification (RFID) system tracks and records the location of items. The automated system operates around the clock, performs tasks on command, and for instance, allocates stock to waiting areas during non-office hours for immediate dispatch the next day.

Information Technology Corporate Data Centre

The new Corporate Data Centre at HASSC is classified as one of the critical IT infrastructures in Hong Kong. It is one of the four Corporate Data Centres in HA and can accommodate a total of 500 IT equipment racks for providing the corporate IT applications and services to HA users. All Corporate Data Centres are built with high availability building facilities, secured monitoring and operations. The new Corporate Data Centre at HASSC is HA’s first in-house and large-scale Data Centre for supporting our Next Generation IT Infrastructure Strategy including HA Clouds, advanced Artificial Intelligence platform and major network node for supporting and interconnecting all our hospitals and clinics.

Central Food Production Unit

As well as taking over services of Central Production Unit (CPU) at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, the HASSC’s Central Food Production Unit has begun to provide chilled-food in phases to the Kowloon East Cluster, the Hong Kong West Cluster, and the Hong Kong East Cluster. Patient meals are produced with cook-chill technology while X-ray machines are used to inspect food to ensure safety. The cooking, packaging, and chilling processes are automated, and the two refrigerated food stores can store five days’ ready-to-dispatch products. It will be capable of producing 14.7 million patient meals a year when it goes into full operation, meeting around half of the HA’s needs.

Central Laundry

The three laundry floors have three independent laundry systems at each floor for inter-backup, while X-ray machines in the automatic sorting system and RFID system categorise linen systematically for easy processing. A robotic arm with a 360-degree gripper, developed by the HASSC in collaboration with external partners, is the first robotic arm in the market which is developed for stacking linen onto a linen cart, reducing strain injuries associated with manual handling operations. Laundry services from Chai Wan Laundry and United Christian Hospital Laundry will gradually transition to the HASSC Central Laundry, which is expected to handle 33 million kilograms of linen a year when it goes into full operation, meeting half of the HA’s needs.

People-centred design

The laundry and CPU generally have working environment with higher temperatures. Covered terrace and resting areas are therefore provided for staff to use during breaks. There are also public areas for staff meetings and activities, reflecting the HA’s people-centred philosophy.