160 Health
Specialist Outpatient Service
Secondary and tertiary ambulatory medical services in the public sector are provided mainly through the Hospital Authority's specialist clinics. At these clinics, patients' symptoms are assessed before diagnosis, treatment, as well as follow-up treatment for patients who require long-term specialist care. About $5.9 billion were allocated in the 2007-08 financial year for providing such services.
Most public hospitals have specialist clinics for internal medicine, surgery, as well as obstetrics, gynaecology, paediatrics, orthopaedics and traumatology, ear nose and throat, neurosurgery, oncology and cardiothoracic surgery. Many hospitals also have subspecialist clinics for cardiology, respiratory medicine, nephrology and other illnesses.
In 2008, members of the public made close to 6.02 million visits to specialist outpatient clinics and about 1.86 million visits to allied health outpatient departments in public hospitals. To cope with the large demand for their services, the specialist clinics in public hospitals implement a triage system for screening newly referred patients to see who needs urgent attention.
Patients with Priority I and II conditions are seen within two weeks and eight weeks respectively. The triage criteria have been sent to private practitioners to facilitate their initial examination of patients. The specialist clinics in many public hospitals also work with the family medicine specialist clinics within the same cluster to conduct preliminary assessment of patients with stable and low-risk medical conditions so as to shorten the waiting time for newly referred patients.
Patients in stable condition would either be referred back to the primary care practitioners in the private sector or the Hospital Authority's general outpatient clinics.
Acute Inpatient Service
Inpatient services are provided to patients who require intensive therapy for their acute illnesses. In the 2007-08 financial year, about $18.2 billion were allocated for the provision of such services which are available in major acute hospitals under the Hospital Authority. Supported by full ancillary services, clinicians in public hospitals are able to effectively treat patients with different medical needs through a range of clinical specialities, including internal medicine, surgery, neurosurgery, clinical oncology, cardiology, obstetrics and other such operations and treatments.
In 2008, some 1.27 million inpatients and day patients were treated and discharged from public hospitals. In line with the international trend, the Hospital Authority will continue to strengthen the development of ambulatory and community care programmes for patients to receive rehabilitation services near their homes as far as possible. This is a major shift in the provision of health services from a disease treatment model to a holistic health model, and from focusing on episodic acute hospital care to adopting
to adopting a life-course approach with an emphasis on preventive, curative and rehabilitative health care.