Hong Kong public hospitals brace for service demand to peak mid-Lunar New break amid cool weather, fewer private doctors on call
- Hospital Authority says demand for public health services expected to reach peak period from third day of holiday and continue into week after
- Average daily number of patients heading to A&E wards has already reached 5,071 for the week ending January 29, before rising to 5,589 the week after
Demand for Hong Kong public hospital services is expected to peak from the third day of the Lunar New Year break and continue into the following week, health authorities have said, attributing the trend to cooler weather and fewer private doctors being on call.
Dr Larry Lee Lap-yip, a chief manager of the Hospital Authority, said seasonal service demand at public hospitals was expected to be initially less intensive. The break starts on Saturday and ends on Tuesday.
“We usually have fewer patients on the first and second day of Lunar New Year, but the number will increase on the third and fourth day of the holiday,” he said. “We also see more patients seeking medical consultation and getting admitted during the week after the third and fourth day of the holiday.”
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Lee said cases were likely to pick up later in the break amid a drop in temperatures, potentially triggering more cases of disease and accidents, and fewer private doctors being on call over the holiday.
The Hong Kong Observatory has said temperatures are expected to drop as low as 12 degrees Celsius (53.6 Fahrenheit) from Saturday, before gradually climbing over the holiday.
According to the authority, the number of patients heading to A&E wards has already risen over the past two weeks, with the daily average reaching 5,071 for the week ending January 29 and rising to 5,589 the week after.
Over the same period, the average number of A&E patients admitted to medical wards each day rose from 953 to 1,061.
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The authority earlier said it would introduce a refund arrangement between Friday and February 18 that allowed accident and emergency (A&E) patients categorised as “semi-urgent” or “non-urgent” to get their attendance fee back if they decided to leave without seeing a doctor within 24 hours of registering.
Those who applied for a refund would get their money back within a month, with officials hoping the measure would make A&E wards more convenient for patients over the peak period, but promising not to send away anyone with fluctuating health conditions.
Discussing the scheme on Thursday, Lee said: “As waiting time at accident and emergency departments may be longer than usual, [less urgent patients] are more likely to seek consultation elsewhere.
“If a patient’s condition needs to be handled by the emergency department, we will encourage them to stay instead of asking them to go elsewhere.”
He also stressed the arrangement was not intended to cut waiting times – which could exceed eight hours for non-urgent cases.
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Lee added that support for geriatric services at public hospitals would be strengthened since the elderly would make up most of the patients seeking medical help over the break.
Teleconsultation support would also be on offer at care homes for the elderly to help prevent unnecessary hospital admissions, he said.
Dr Li Yim-chu, who is in charge of the department of family medicine and primary healthcare for the Kowloon Central cluster, said 18 general outpatient clinics open over the break would have a patient quota of 8,000, an increase from the 14 sites in past years.
She noted that similar to public hospitals, demand for services at outpatient clinics typically increased on the third and fourth days of Lunar New Year.
