Kowloon West Cluster (KWC)
| Number of general outpatient clinics | 23 |
| Throughput | |
| Number of beds | 6,652 |
| Patient discharges* | 386,932 |
| A&E attendances | 629,419 |
| Specialist outpatient attendances (clinical) | 1,706,539 |
| General outpatient attendances | 1,692,916 |
| Full-time equivalent staff | 16,098 |
* Total inpatient, day patient discharges and deaths
In 2015-16, KWC implemented a wide range of initiatives to enhance capacity and accessibility of services to meet the escalating demands while uphold service quality and patient safety.
Manpower support is substantial in delivering quality patient services. To mitigate manpower shortfall, additional nursing, allied health and supporting staff were recruited to supplement the workforce and alleviate the workload of frontline staff in high-pressure clinical areas.
KWC proactively increased capacity for services with pressing issues of waiting time. In the year, around 16,500 additional quota were added in KWC general outpatient clinics. Day ambulatory service in OLMH and YCH was also strengthened. Besides, resources were invested to strengthen cardiac care by setting up the second Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory (CCL) in PMH for KWC, which commenced service in February 2016. PMH also implemented the 24-hour thrombolytic service for acute ischaemic stroke patients to improve acute stroke management. Capacity of dialysis treatment and endoscopic procedures was increased in various KWC hospitals to allay waiting time. A designated cluster team was set up in April 2015 to address the service needs on vascular surgery. KWC trauma service was further strengthened to cater for rising demand. Designated beds were assigned in CMC and WTSH to support ventilator-dependent patients.
Resources were invested by KWC to enhance accessibility of healthcare services. PMH installed an additional angiography flat panel detector equipment for diagnostic and intervention procedures in October 2015. Besides, haematology service was strengthened, and weekday pharmacy service in OLMH has been extended by two hours since October 2015 to provide the public with greater convenience.
On the mental health services front, multi-disciplinary support for patients with common mental disorder was improved. Peer support workers who recovered from mental illness were recruited in November 2015 and February 2016 to support patients with severe mental illness in the community.
Continued quality improvement and maintenance of safety has always been our top priority. To support clinical workflow and improve medication safety, Inpatient Medication Order Entry system was further extended to YCH in December 2015, after rolling out in PMH in 2013 and NLTH in 2014. Tracking system of surgical instrument and sterilisation services for operating theatres of hospitals in KWC were also enhanced.
To facilitate the redevelopment project of KWH, project scope of the planning team in KWH was expanded to discuss and coordinate with various stakeholders on decanting services for the redevelopment.