LCQ11: Staff retention measures of the Hospital Authority
22.3.2023

Following is a question by the Hon Edward Leung and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, in the Legislative Council today (March 22): Question: The Hospital Authority (HA) has earlier on launched a series of staff retention measures, including a low-interest home loan scheme for staff, an arrangement for extending the employment of retired staff, creation of a new rank of Associate Nurse Consultant (ANC), etc. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows: (1) the respective numbers of applications received and approved under the low-interest home loan scheme for staff since its launch; the average time taken for the granting of approval from the submission of an application by applicant; (2) the implementation progress of the arrangement for extending the employment of retired staff since its launch, and the number of staff who have been arranged for extended employment upon retirement, together with a breakdown by their ranks; whether HA has assessed the effectiveness of the arrangement; (3) the progress of the recruitment exercise since the launch of the measure for the creation of the new rank of ANC, and the number of ANCs hired, together with a breakdown by the length of service of such ANCs; whether HA has assessed the effectiveness of the measure; and (4) the numbers of HA doctors and nurses departed since January 2022 and their respective ranks, together with a breakdown by the length of service of such staff; whether HA has put in place other measures to retain healthcare manpower, so as to ensure that public healthcare services are not affected? Reply: President, In consultation with the Hospital Authority (HA), the consolidated reply to Hon Edward Leung is as follows: The HA has been closely monitoring the manpower situation and launched a series of measures to attract, develop and retain talents, including increasing the number of Resident Trainee posts to recruit local medical graduates, recruiting non-locally trained doctors to supplement local recruitment, improving promotion prospects to retain staff, hiring part-time healthcare staff (e.g. through recruiting locum staff), flexible work arrangements, offering further employment to suitable staff beyond retirement, enhancing Home Loan Interest Subsidy Scheme (HLISS) to introduce a home loan scheme for staff and provision of better training opportunities for various grades by establishing Hospital Authority Academy (HAA). The HA also set up a Task Group on Sustainability in December 2019 to review strategies for staff retention. The latest progress and relevant statistics of individual measures raised in the question are as follows: (1) The HA launched the Enhanced HLISS at the end of December 2022 to invite the first batch of applications from staff till the end of March 2023. There has been positive response from staff with more than 400 applications received as at January 31, 2023. (2) The HA Board endorsed the policy of Extending Employment Beyond Retirement at its meeting in September 2021 to retain suitable retired healthcare staff for coping with the rising service demands in the future. As at December 2022, there were 103 doctors, 263 nurses, 57 allied health professionals, and 2 868 supporting and other grades staff working full-time at the HA on contract terms after retirement. Among staff retiring during 2022-23 to 2026-27, at least 323 doctors, 987 nurses and 243 allied health professionals have indicated interest or agreed to take up further employment after retirement. (3) The HA created the rank of Associate Nurse Consultant (ANC) in 2021-22 to provide an alternative career path other than clinical management for nurses aspired to professional development in specialty nursing so as to promote continuous professional development and enhance the quality of nursing service. As at September 2022, the HA employed 108 ANCs that are expected to increase to over 440 by 2024-25. Applicants for ANCs are required to have five years or more full-time post-registration experience in healthcare of which at least three years in the related specialty and at least two years at a supervisory role. (4) Years of Service of Departed Full-time Doctors by Rank Group in HA in 2022-23 (Rolling 12 Months from January to December 2022) (Note 1, Note 2 and Note 3) Rank Group <1 year 1 - <6 years 6 - <11 years 11 - <16 years 16 - <21 years 21 - <26 years 26 - <31 years 31 years or above Consultant 0 8 3 5 12 7 19 0 Senior Medical Officer / Associate Consultant 1 5 21 80 60 20 15 0 Medical Officer / Resident 9 82 49 18 6 1 7 0 Total 10 95 73 103 78 28 41 0 Years of Service of Departed Full-time Nurses by Rank Group in HA in 2022-23 (Rolling 12 Months from January to December 2022) (Note 1 and Note 3) Rank Group <1 year 1 - <6 years 6 - <11 years 11 - <16 years 16 - <21 years 21 - <26 years 26 - <31 years 31 years or above Registered Nurse or above 183 932 483 174 65 147 453 39 Enrolled Nurse 85 121 21 4 1 7 62 5 Total 268 1 053 504 178 66 154 515 44 Apart from the above measures, the HA, in line with the key directions recommended by the Task Group on Sustainability, has also progressively enhanced staff retention measures since 2022-23, including: (a) creating opportunities for Associate Consultants to be promoted to Consultant rank so as to retain experienced medical personnel; (b) providing Specialty Nurse Allowance to eligible registered nurses so as to retain manpower and encourage professional development of nurses through recognising their specialty qualifications; and (c) continued efforts in attracting more retired staff to extend their employment after retirement. The HA will evaluate the effectiveness of the measures in a timely manner and continue to closely monitor the manpower situation to make proactive arrangements to attract, develop and retain talents for supporting the overall service needs and development in the HA. Note 1: Attrition (Wastage) includes all types of cessation of service from HA for permanent and contract staff on headcount basis. Note 2: Doctors exclude Interns and Dental Officers. Note 3: The manpower figures exclude staff who continue working at the HA on contract terms after retirement via the Policy of Extending Employment Beyond Retirement.