TNAG-1855-FCO40-2630-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-memoranda-and-minutes-of-me-1989 — Page 111

(d)

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL —15 March 1989 香港立法局 ——————一九八九年三月十五日

63

a lack of flexibility in the management of staff and other resources due, in part, to the need to conform to Civil Service wide regulations and practice.

In their report, published in December 1985, the consultants concluded that these problems could not be resolved adequately within the present organizational framework for providing hospital services. They recommended that the management of the present government and subvented hospitals should be integrated under a statutory Hospital Authority, funded by the Government, but operating outside the Civil Service and that all aspects of public health should be handled by a separate health services body within the Government. Following a period of public consultation, proposals for the establishment of a Hospital Authority, Hospital Services Department and Department of Health were endorsed in principle by the Executive Council in September 1987.

Sir, the target date for the establishment of the Hospital Authority is 1 April 1990. There are sound reasons for splitting the services of the Medical and Health Department one year in advance.

Although, in many respects, the health and hospital services functions of the Medical and Health Department operate separately they, nevertheless, share many central departmental resources, such as accommodation, finance, staff management, procurement and so on. The division of these functions between the two new departments is a major logistical exercise and some teething problems will be inevitable. However, the next twelve months should provide ample time for these problems to be overcome so that all internal management systems are functioning smoothly in preparation for the next step of establishing the Hospital Authority. When the authority comes into existence the Hospital Services Department will be subsumed within the management structure of the new authority; the Department of Health will remain a government department.

A point I would like to stress, Sir, is that the creation of the two new departments will not, in itself, lead to any significant change or disruption to the present operational arrangements for the provision of medical and health services. For the vast majority of staff, the reorganization will entail no more than a change in the departmental designation of the posts which they presently occupy. Steps will also be taken to ensure that the career prospects of staff employed in grades which will be common to both departments are not adversely affected. Specifically, arrangements will be made for the departments to exercise joint responsibility on matters such as postings, promotion, performance appraisal, training and career development.