Better Patient Care
52. This amounts to a real and sustained commitment to improving our general health care services. But, as in other areas, we must do more than simply increase the quantity of the services available. We must also raise the quality of service we offer our patients. We intend to start with patient care.
53. The first major improvement is to make sure that patients do not have to wait an excessive length of time for treatment, particularly in emergency cases. Next year, we aim to reduce the average waiting time for accident and emergency cases in public hospitals from one hour at present to less than 30 minutes. We will also cut the waiting time at general clinics for 300 000 patients suffering from chronic diseases by giving them advance appointments. Where we cannot eliminate the need to wait, we can at least make the experience more comfortable by installing air-conditioners in waiting rooms, and by providing drinking fountains and better equipped and cleaner toilets.
54. Doctors must have access to accurate and reliable information on their patients. Medical records will be standardised in general clinics. Without this basic information, we cannot hope to achieve higher standards and ensure continuity of care. And patients need to know what medicines have been prescribed if they are to take an active part in managing their own treatment. All drugs prescribed at general clinics are now labelled. The next step will be to extend drug labelling to all public hospitals and specialist clinics.
55. These measures may not sound dramatic by themselves, but, overall, they will bring about a marked and visible improvement. They reflect our determination to introduce a more responsive and efficient service throughout our health care system. They also demonstrate the style of management which the new Hospital Authority is seeking to develop.
New Target Groups
56. We need, in addition, to set new targets to meet the special needs of specific groups who are particularly vulnerable. Our focus will be on early detection and treatment. We must provide the best possible treatment for those who fall ill. But it is much better to help them avoid falling ill in the first place. Between now and 1997:
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