Establishing a better balance between demand for and supply of medical services is a major concern in Kowloon Central Cluster (KCC) and Kowloon West Cluster (KWC). One key initiative under the Plan is regrouping Wong Tai Sin district and Mongkok area, which are currently part of KWC, under KCC. This will result in Kwong Wah Hospital, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Wong Tai Sin Hospital and Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital becoming part of KCC. Administrative arrangements for this regrouping exercise will be in effect by late 2016.
This redrawing of cluster boundaries will narrow the gap between the medical needs of the serviced population and the clusters’ capacity for providing such care. To give one example, there will be a better balance in terms of the number of available hospital beds per 1,000 people. The change will require the reorganisation of the provision of care in both KCC and KWC, giving appropriate consideration to acute care, extended care, primary care and community care services.
The Plan also proposes reorganising the number of hospitals managed by HA’s various Hospital Chief Executives (HCEs) to bring the scope of duties of all HCEs to a comparable level and to facilitate job rotation among HCEs. The proposed changes will be phased in over three years, taking into account the existing service tenures of HCE incumbents and the need to dovetail with cluster boundaries. The proposed changes will be put before the HA Board for endorsement in December this year. Below are the hospitals which have been suggested and grouped to be managed by seven HCEs. These HCEs can depend on the necessity of the individual hospitals follow up on consequential appointment of Deputy HCEs to support them.
Hong Kong West Cluster
Grantham Hospital + Tung Wah Hospital
Hong Kong East Cluster
Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital + Wong Chuk Hang Hospital + St John Hospital
Ruttonjee Hospital & Tang Siu Kin Hospital + Cheshire Home, Chung Hom Kok + Tung Wah Eastern Hospital
Kowloon West Cluster
Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Wong Tai Sin Hospital + Hong Kong Buddhist Hospital + Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital
Kowloon East Cluster
Tseung Kwan O Hospital + Haven of Hope Hospital
New Territories East Cluster
Shatin Hospital + Bradbury Hospice + Cheshire Home, Shatin
New Territories West Cluster
Pok Oi Hospital + Tin Shui Wai Hospital
HA will mobilise in 2015/16 and 2017/18 an additional HK$300 million to finance ‘catch-up’ plans for Kowloon East Cluster (KEC), New Territories East Cluster (NTEC) and New Territories West Cluster (NTWC). The main thrust of the plans is to address deficiencies in service capacity, particularly with respect to manpower shortfalls in nursing, allied healthcare workers and supporting staff.