10 per cent rise in overtime allowance for Hong Kong health care workers in public hospitals

Nursing union welcomes plan and ‘fairer treatment’ as overcrowded hospitals struggle to cope

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The Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff says some workers may work an extra hour as they hand over their duties to colleagues on the next shift. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 11:01pm, 9 Feb 2018Updated: 11:01pm, 9 Feb 2018

Nurses and health care workers who work overtime at Hong Kong’s public hospitals will receive a 10 per cent increase in allowances from next Monday under a raft of measures to cope with the surge in service demand amid the flu season.

Leung Pak-yin, the Hospital Authority’s chief executive, announced the move on Friday as he detailed how extra funding from the government would be spent.

On January 30, Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the city’s public hospitals would get a HK$500 million (US$64 million) injection as they struggled to cope. Lam also promised “resource support” for the authority to implement relevant measures.

Chief of the Hospital Authority, Leung Pak-yin, announced a raft of measures to help hospitals cope. Photo: Felix Wong

Public hospitals have seen bed occupancy rates go through the roof with patients spilling out of wards into corridors.

Leung said the authority would spend an additional HK$400 million on top of the HK$500 million.

He added that starting from Monday, health care staff would be paid more under the special honorarium scheme for those working extra hours.

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