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Efforts continuing to improve recruitment and retention of nurses
Following is a question by the Hon Michael Ho Mun-ka and a written reply by the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Mrs Katherine Fok, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
Although nearly six months have elapsed since the Hospital Authority published the Manpower Indicators in respect of the nursing and allied health professionals, no measures have been put in place to achieve the targets set out in the Indicators. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the purposes and objectives of the Hospital Authority in formulating
such Manpower Indicators;
(b)
(c)
whether the staff in the grades concerned or the public have been consulted about the Manpower Indicators; if so, what was the duration of the consultation period;
whether any concrete measures and the timing for achieving the targets in the Indicators have been drawn up; if so, when the details can be announced, and how such measures will be implemented by the Hospital Authority?
Reply:
The manpower indicators promulgated by the Hospital Authority are designed to serve as a planning tool to facilitate the work of hospital managers. These indicators provide a useful benchmark against which the staffing situation in different clinical specialties could be monitored. In areas where deficiencies are identified, appropriate action would be taken to redeploy existing manpower resources or to plan for the need of additional staff.
The manpower indicators have been discussed extensively by the Medical Services Development Committee of the Hospital Authority, and were circulated to individual hospitals as well as various staff groups for consultation. Furthermore, two seminars were conducted in October 1994 to familiarise 400 frontline nurse managers with the rationale and potential application of the new indicators.