The shortage of public hospital nurses is still severe, with one nurse caring for 10 or 11 patients on average, a staff association survey found.
Even though this ratio is a slight improvement from last year's figure of one nurse for every 12 to 14 patients, it is still a far cry from the international standard of one nurse for four to six patients.
'Last year was extremely unreasonable. This year it's still unreasonable,' said health sector lawmaker Dr Joseph Lee Kok-long, chairman of the Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff. 'It's strange that the Hospital Authority has put more resources into the profession and recruited more nurses, but still there isn't much of an improvement.'
In the association's annual manpower survey, released yesterday, 84 per cent of members polled said their departments saw nurses quit or retire in the past six months.
Of these respondents, 79 per cent said the vacancies had not been filled or only partly filled. Some 2,180 nurses from the public sector were interviewed for the survey conducted from April to May.
The association called on the authority to set a standard nurse-patient ratio to ensure adequate manpower and quality service.