D
Page
12
XCC (87)62
32
The OMELCO Standing
Standing Panel on Health Services has shown a keen interest to see the HORU reports. Notice has been given to the administration that Legislative Council members wish to have an adjournment debate on the ambulance service in Hong Kong on 17 June 1987. It is proposed that the HORU reports be made available quickly to the Panel so that it may study them.
Financial and staffing implications
33
The new ambulance depots which would be required to meet the ten-minute target time are already in the Public Works Programme and thus the capital costs involved have already been accepted in principle by the Government. The precise location and size of the depots may need to be reviewed but, with regard to size, this is likely to lead to a reduced financial requirement rather than a larger one.
34
The main resource implications
of implementing the recommendations are the staffing costs. At Annex D are implications, in terms of notional annual mid point
mid point salaries, of the recommended management structure, which indicates additional recurrent cost of $7,420,000 per annum. But this should be offset partly, in time, by the containment of growth in the number of men achieved by tiering. The actual staffing implications will depend very much on how successful the recommended two tier system will turn out to be. The staffing recommendations will be examined in the normal way and implementation will be subject to the voting of the necessary funds by the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council.
Public reaction
35
The consultancy has been the subject of media reporting and there has been some concern over the question of training for ambulance staff and the target response time. While the Administration's acceptance of the Consultant's recommendations may be welcomed by the general public, there may be criticism by interest groups that the recommendations have not gone far
far enough to
ambulance raise the quality of service. There may be some adverse reaction if the two staff associations make
make known to the public that
that they consider ten-minute target response time too long.
36
-
-
a
The question of
whether more highly trained ambulancemen - "paramedics" should be introduced in Hong Kong has been the subject of some public debate recently and this may arise again. The Consultants were not briefed to consider the training of ambulancemen. This is something which the ASRSG has now started on but initially it will be considering how far basic training should extend. Whether paramedics are desirable or not is a highly debatable subject on which persons in the field tend to hold diverse views.
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