ENG-2011 — Page 207

Health | 167

While taking forward the HPS, the FHB will continue to strengthen public healthcare services as the cornerstone of the health system and the healthcare safety net for all.

The Government's recurrent funding for health has witnessed substantial year- by-year increases. By 2012, the total growth will amount to over $13 billion, representing an increase of over 40 per cent. Healthcare expenditure will, in keeping with FHB's pledge, account for 17 per cent of the government's recurrent expenditure. The FHB has also strengthened the public healthcare services safety net to provide better protection for patients requiring costly drugs and treatment, including past fund injections totalling $1,510 million. The Government will continue to take forward various healthcare service reform measures including enhancing primary care services, promoting public-private partnership in health care and developing a territory-wide electronic health record sharing system.

Primary Healthcare and Medical Services

Primary health care covers a wide range of public health services such as health promotion and disease prevention. It is the first step in the healthcare process, comprising general outpatient services, specialised health care, and specialist medical treatment, provided for people in specific age groups who do not require hospital attention.

Figures for 2007-08 show spending on primary healthcare, which includes spending on public general outpatient clinics, private outpatient (general and specialist) and dental care, was about $21.9 billion, of which public expenditure accounted for 23 per cent.

In October 2008, the Working Group on Primary Care (WGPC), which comprised healthcare professionals from the public and private sectors, patient representatives and service users, was reconvened under the HMDAC to formulate specific proposals for enhancing and developing primary care services. In September 2009, WGPC and its task forces put forward initial recommendations for the development of better primary care services in Hong Kong through the following three main areas of work:

• developing primary care conceptual models and reference frameworks, especially for the prevention and management of common chronic diseases, starting from diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HT), the two most common chronic diseases in Hong Kong, with a view to guiding the provision of enhanced primary care;

• setting up a Primary Care Directory with a view to promoting primary care. through the family doctor concept and a multi-disciplinary approach, starting from the sub-directories of doctors and dentists; and

• devising feasible service models to deliver enhanced primary care services in the community through pilot projects as appropriate, including the setting up of community health centres (CHCs) and networks.