Page 121 - Hospital Authority Convention 2017

Service Enhancement Presentations

F1.3 Better Manage Growing Service Demands 10:45 Room 421

Service Accessibility Monitoring of Cancers in Hospital Authority by Data Mining Approach
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Fan ESH , Tong AYH , Woo PPS , So WY , Cheng MCY , Cheng ITH , Chung APM , Wan CH , Chi KKH 3
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Quality and Standards Department, Quality and Safety Division, Public Health and Information Service, Information Technology HOSPITAL AUTHORITY CONVENTION 2017
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and Health Informatics Division Health Research and Planning Department, Statistics and Workforce Planning Department,
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Strategy and Planning Division, Clinical Information Support Systems Team 3, Information Technology and Health Informatics
Division, Hospital Authority Head Office, Hong Kong
Introduction
In 2014, one person in Hong Kong got diagnosed with cancer in every 17.7 minutes (29,618 new cases in 2014 from Hong
Kong Cancer Registry). Some cancers are more aggressive and require prompt treatment while others are more benign which
allow more time for assessment and treatment planning. Cancer diagnosis is very stressful for the patients and their family.
Information of clinical service access for different cancers is important for quality clinical service delivery, better clinical
outcomes, and benefits of the patients and their family.
Objectives
Cancer treatment waiting time is used to monitor the Hospital Authority (HA) service accessibility for selected cancers
preferably with a homogenous patient care pathway. A typical example is that colorectal cancer ranked the first in 2014’s
cancer incidence of the Hong Kong Cancer Registry. The waiting times and their trends serve as a gauge on how well the
cancer care system is working and provide valuable insight on resource allocation at current stage and for future service
planning. As such, monitoring the treatment waiting time of colorectal cancer can help healthcare executives to enhance
clinical governance and accountability on:
(1) Understanding the current situation of access to cancer treatment
(2) Understanding and analysing the bottlenecks Tuesday, 16 May
(3) Planning for future resources to remove the cancer treatment access blocks
(4) Directing resources to pressure areas

Methodology
In HA, Clinical Management System captures clinical data for patient care, including diagnostic histopathology laboratory
result, surgical operation procedure, chemotherapy dispensing and radiotherapy data. The clinical data is then available in
the integrated Clinical Data Repository which enables analyses and sustainable measurement of cancer treatment waiting
time. Data definition and cancer waiting time measurement (from laboratory cancer diagnosis to cancer treatment including
surgical operation, chemotherapy and radiotherapy) has been standardised by HA Statistics Department. Subsequent
automation of monthly cancer treatment waiting time report generation and making the timely information available to
executives and clinical staff is then done via Management Information Portal. Clinical Data Analysis and Reporting System
facilitates patient list drill down for cases review and pressure areas for improvement measure identification.

Results
Starting from 2009, the Hospital Authority has developed Key Performance Indicators to monitor the waiting time of two
cancers (i.e. colorectal and breast cancer) which ranked the top five of local cancer incidence. The collaborative project
from different stakeholders including Clinical Coordinating Committees, HA Statistics Department, Information Technology
and Health Informatics Division as well as Quality and Safety Division has revolutionised the performance management on
healthcare process, digging out important critical disease management information from clinical data in HA IT systems and
efficiently disseminating the updated information to the stakeholders for clinical service delivery improvement.

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