Hospital staff allowance to rise
The Hospital Authority Board today endorsed a one-off 10% rate increase for the Special Honorarium Scheme allowance with effect from January 28.
The move encourages staff members in different disciplines including doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, clerical and supporting staff to boost manpower resources during the winter surge.
The authority’s Chief Manager (Cluster Performance) Dr Ian Cheung said public hospitals have been facing a huge service demand since January.
“In recent weeks, the accident and emergency department (AED) attendances have been consistently over 6,000, while the daily inpatient admissions to medical wards via AEDs are always above 1,000.
“Over 1,700 inpatient beds have now been added in public hospitals to meet the service demand."
He expects the service demand pressure will further increase and that public hospitals will get even more congested after the Lunar New Year holiday.
Dr Cheung added the authority has actively been recruiting more part-time and temporary staff to alleviate the work pressure of frontline staff.
“We hope that the increase in the Special Honorarium Scheme will encourage more staff to join hands in meeting the challenge of this winter surge.”
The rate adjustment will take effect for 12 weeks and may be further extended depending on the service situation in public hospitals, he added.