Hong Kong plans new digital platform to cut specialist clinic wait times by 25%

Patients with non-urgent conditions could see their waiting times at Hong Kong’s public specialist outpatient clinics reduced by a quarter under a new electronic platform being developed to improve efficiency, the Hospital Authority’s chief has revealed.

Libby Lee Ha-yun, who assumed the role of chief executive of the authority earlier this month, also said on Saturday that general outpatient clinics could extend their opening hours by five hours, until 10pm.

“We’re reviewing whether the process could be improved … by using a centralised electronic platform to ensure patients are given earlier slots to reduce their wait time. Our initial estimate is that this could shorten the wait time by a quarter,” Lee said.

She explained that appointment slots were previously allocated in a more informal manner that did not prioritise early availability. She added that improvements in staffing levels had enabled the authority to increase capacity and handle more appointments.

“For patients coming for a follow-up consultation who have mild conditions, could we refer them to family medicine? Then we could free up slots for the specialist outpatient clinics and take more patients,” she said.

According to Lee, the authority was also exploring whether certain treatments could be provided to patients while they waited, such as physiotherapists prescribing exercises to ease pain.

But she emphasised that these were non-urgent cases that could afford to wait longer, following urgent and less urgent ones such as cancer and chest pain, respectively.