Our Goal

The Hospital Authority has established in its Corporate Plan to the Year 2000 the following Corporate Vision:

" The Hospital Authority will collaborate with other health care providers and carers in the community to create a seamless health care system which will maximise health care benefits and meet community expectations "

In order to move towards a seamless health care system which can give the community the maximum health benefits, it is important to involve the community as partners in the process. The Hospital Authority's community initiatives are to continue efforts to project to the public at large an image of care, dedication , efficiency , value for money and partenrship, and to encourgae public participation in the system, resulting in more direct accountability to the public . Innovative schemes on the 'partenrship' theme are also developed to involve the community in the provision of care.

Our Work

	Dissemination of information and activities on HA and its hospitals to the public via the media
	Proactive communciation with the public through enhaced media relations
	Promotion of corporate image
	Design and production of corporate publications including annual report, annual plan and other brochures, posters and pamphlets
	Publicity programmes through electronic and print media
	Management of corporate events and campaigns
	Liaison with political parties, Councils, District Boards, community organisations and patient groups to involve the community as partner
	Establishment of the "Health InfoWorld"
	Promotion of Patients' Charter
	Development of partnership schemes such as Corporate Volunteer Programme
	Access channel to HA Information - HA InfoLine
	Authoring and publishing of information on HA InfoNet
	Effective liaison channels with patient groups to improve communciation and enhance understanding of health care issues
	Launch of public opinion audit and patient satisfaction level survey

Community Relations

Ensuring an Open and Accountable Organisation

Accontability to the community is a top priority for the Hospital Authority. The Authority seeks to implement its policy of openness and accountability by conducting a comprehensive programme of consultations. These encompass the widest possible spectrum of community organisation and leaders, and as many members of the general public as possible.

Since the establishment of the Authority, formal accountability mechanisms exist in the form of the HA Board, its functional committees, the Regional Advisory committees and the Hospital Governing Committees. Othe channels, such as regular liaison with community groups, District Boards, professioanl organisations, patient groups and Legislative Councillors, also provide venues for public scrutiny to ensure HA is an open and accountable organisation.

To enhance transparency of the Authority, a series of meetings are arranged with District Boards, political parties and other opinion leaders to consult them on the Authority's Annual Plan for the coming year and to discuss relevant topics. Their comments are collated and reflected in the Annual Plan. These consultations have proved fruitful in fostering understanding of and soliciting input to the drafting strategies for future development.

To further enhance openness and public accountability, we will continue to conduct regular public meetings to explain th work of the Authority and seek public views. Opportunites in the print and electronic media will continue to be used extensively for public communicatin on patient care issues. Concurrently, a proctive approach in conducting campaigns on various health themes will be launched in collaboration with major community groups to enhance understanding of and facilitate active participation in the caring process and in the work of the Authority.

Two live phone-in programmes - "Patient Resource Centre on Air" and "HA Public Channel" are aired monthly on the RTHK Channel 1 and Channel 2 respectively. Representatives from the Authority join the programmes, exchange views with callers and put across corporate messages and hospital services during the programme.

This two-way communication helps promote community partnership and it provides a forum for the public to give its feedback about their experiences and expectations of the hospital system.

Promoting the Patients' Charter

The Patients' Charter is a vehicle of communication between health care providers and patients. We believe that an enhaced awareness of the rights and responsibilities of patients will contribute greatly to establishing mutual trust and respect between health care providers and patients. This will bring about better partnership in the care process and greater improvements in patient outcome and satisfaction.

As an important element contributing to seamless health care, the Patients charter will be further promoted in the coming years. We will continue to conduct territory-wide programmes on the promotion of the charter and to educate the general public on the patients' rights and responsibilties.

Understanding Patient Needs

The Authority has established a patient focused service culture throughout the organisation which has been incorporated in the hospitals' annual plans.

We maintain direct dialogue with patients and families through focus group discussions to enable users of HA services to provide direct input in the formulation of service improvements.

Focus groups are a well-accepted and popular method of market research in which small but representative groups of people carry out in-depth discussions on aspects of services or organisations under the leadership of a professional and independent facilitator. These groups are systematically sampled and professionally facilitated. Participants appreciated and criticised services, and made numerous observations and comments on different issues. The data gathered will serve as important information for service improvement.

We also team up with the Hong Kong University to carry out patient satisfaction level surveys among both inpatients and outpatients to obtain quantitative feedback. The survey findings provide a clearer picture of the satisfaction level. Standard instruments will be designed based on the survey findings, so that more systematic research can be conducted in the future.

Involving the Community

In order to strengthen community partnership in the operation of public hospitals, the Authority is developing the role of the community as partners in health by providing knowledge and skills on ways to promote, maintain and improve health.

Therefore we set up the "Health InfoWorld" to encourage the general public to participate in the educational or promotional activities about health care. Individuals and groups of visitors can easily gain access to a wide range of information about health care and disease at the centre. Numerous HA publications, documents and papers are also available for public viewing, which is one of our key gateways to the community. Another important aspect of the Centre is its role of focal point for patient support groups, volunteers and self-help groups who can use its seminar and activity room for their activities.

Apart from community groups, business organisations are also involved in volunteer programmes to care and support patients. Corporations provide manpower, financial and material support in rendering volunteer services which bring joy and enhance comfort of the patients.

Since thousands of dedicated volunteers give immense social and psychological support to public hospital patients, we value this link which complement the work of our hospital staff and the role of community as carers. Besides holding a series of training and seminars for hospital volunteer coordinators, the sharing of experience among hospitals and development of the skills of hospital staff to harness the goodwill of volunteers in also facilitated.

Information at Your Fingertips

The HA Infoline - an interactive telephone hotline 2882 4866 for patient feedback and access to information about Hospital Authority has been in operation. This service facilitates members of the public to make suggestions and to express their opinion. Callers can also select topics of interest, hear pre-recorded information about service of Hospital Authority and ten priority health areas and have the information faxed or mailed to them.

In view of the growth potential of the Internet, the Public Affairs Divison and the Information Technology Division jointly develop and maintain the Hospital Authority Website on the World Wide Web. Publishing HA Information and its services in an organised format on Internet is an effective way of making our corporate information accessible worldwide.