* Total inpatient, day patient discharges and deaths
HKWC continues close partnership with Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of The University of Hong Kong in supporting undergraduate and postgraduate medical education and training, research and development, as well as innovation in health care technology and services.
To allay staff shortage, additional allied health professionals were recruited to enhance multi-disciplinary care and rehabilitation service. Patient care assistants were added to share out simple clinical and clerical workload. Nursing manpower was also strengthened to meet operational needs at acute settings and high pressure areas.
Pressure areas of QMH were alleviated with four medical beds designated for non-invasive ventilation service for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The hospital also opened one paediatric ICU bed and one High Dependency Unit (HDU) bed to cope with demand for complex services from cross-border eligible paediatric patients, added one paediatric cardiology ICU bed for patients requiring cardiac surgery and Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) treatment. Additional manpower was allocated to improve service for adult patients with life-threatening cardiopulmonary condition requiring Left Ventricular Assist Devices. To reduce waiting time of adult and paediatric patients for Haemopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT), the number of adult HSCT beds was increased to 18 and one more HDU bed was added for HSCT paediatric patients.
To relieve overcrowding situation of eye specialist service in QMH and to provide one-stop cataract service, planning and preparation was in progress for relocating the Eye specialist outpatient clinic to GH, which had its cataract operating theatre upgraded. To meet growing service demand, 140 additional day and same-day operations were conducted in TWH. The number would increase to 350 per year in subsequent years.
Hospital haemodialysis service was expanded to benefit four more patients with end-stage renal disease. Recovery oriented treatment programmes were provided to patients in the psychiatric admission wards. Treatment of eye diseases for elderly patients was strengthened by providing anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment to 60 new age-related macular degeneration cases and 500 new cases of diabetic eye diseases.
To keep abreast of modern clinical practice, minimally invasive surgery technique in hysterectomy surgeries was adopted for suitable gynaecology patients. Aseptic dispensing facilities were upgraded to meet environment control requirements in the aseptic compounding process. Under the cross cluster Robotic Assisted Surgery Collaboration Programme, cancer patients from different clusters benefited through sharing of experience and technique among surgeons.
Responding to increasing burden of chronic disease, the Tuberculosis and Chest Unit in GH provided Early Visit Programme for chronic lung disease patients to reduce utilisation of accident and emergency service and in-patient admission to QMH. Care of patients with bronchiectasis and malignant pleural effusion was improved with a Bronchiectasis Clinic set up in GH with the use of in-dwelling intra-pleural catheter. Nurse-led chest pain clinic of Cardiac Medical Unit in GH was enhanced to provide fast track assessment and treatment for patients with coronary artery disease.
Laboratory services were enhanced, providing 30 additional cytogenetic tests for blood cancer patients, 70 additional predictive molecular tests for lung, breast and colorectal cancer patients, and additional 3,750 haemoglobin tests for diabetes patients. In support of organ transplant in Hong Kong, a laboratory-based transplant coordination centre set up in QMH strengthened laboratory and cell/tissue bank services.
QMH achieved breakthrough in liver transplant operations in 2013 where two patients received liver transplants from living donors of different blood types. With the new technique, it is anticipated that more live-donor liver transplants could be conducted in future