HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL -15 March 1989 香港立法局 —— 一九八九年三月十五日
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that even after the two departments come into being on 1 April 1989 nothing should be regarded as being set in concrete. The remarks made by Members today will certainly be borne in mind. If experience should indicate that adjustments may be required, I see no reason why later on, and even after the Hospital Authority has been set up, the division of responsibilities between the two separate bodies cannot be further refined or addressed.
On the question of primary health care, Sir, it is indeed the intention of the Government to start a review of the present system in the next few months and with a degree of urgency. In drawing up the terms of reference I will certainly pay regard to Dr. IP's remarks but I doubt very much whether after the Hospital Authority has been set up next year and in the first few years of its infancy we should enlarge the organization by injecting into it the general out-patient clinics thereby making it an even bigger organization. But as I said, Sir, nothing is set in concrete.
Sir, questions have been asked about consultation with staff. This is an area of major concern to the Government and I will, with your indulgence, Sir, spend a little time on this. The Government fully recognizes the importance of staff consultation in the reorganization exercise involving 27 000 members of the Medical and Health Department. It is for this reason that special measures on staff consultation were adopted to make sure that staff understood the objectives of the reorganization, what it involves and how their legitimate interests are being safeguarded. The consultative measures included over 60 meetings since the summer of 1987 when the Government decided to set up the Hospital Authority and to reorganize the department. These meetings cover those jointly held with all grades of staff representatives in the formal departmental consultative committee or separately with different grade representatives covering medical and dental officers, nurses, paramedics, general grades officers and Model Scale I officers.
In addition, two special rounds of open consultation sessions were held in the autumn of 1987 and the summer of 1988 in all hospitals and most clinics so that staff who do not belong to the associations can have the benefit of being directly briefed on the reorganization of the Medical and Health Department and in putting forward their views to the management.
To ensure that each and every member of the department is aware of the changes being introduced, two bilingual departmental circulars were issued: one on 12 October 1987, another on 25 July 1988. These circulars were given the widest circulation possible and in both cases a hotline telephone number was given in order to encourage staff to seek clarifications and to put forward their views on the matter. A further detailed circular will be issued shortly to explain