XN000022-1995-01-18 — Page 54

(d)

(e)

38 -

of the total resources allocated by the Hospital Authority to this scheme together with a breakdown of the resources allocated to each participating hospital; and

when this scheme will be reviewed; and how the Government will monitor and assess its effectiveness?

Reply:

As at January 12, 1995, 117 nurses in 16 public hospitals have joined the Continuous Night Shift Scheme. A detailed breakdown is attached.

Since the key objective of this scheme is to reduce the frequency of night shift for nurses to an average of once per week, the applications filed by individual hospitals are evaluated by the Hospital Authority Head Office based on their operational requirements and the expected outcome. So far only one application was rejected.

The Hospital Authority has provided sufficient resources for individual hospitals to carry out the service targets contained in their business plans. Hospitals implementing the scheme are operating within their annual budget but additional resources could be allocated to them if necessary. A review of the effectiveness of the scheme is expected to be completed by February 1995.