Following is a question by the Hon Lam Cheuk-ting and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, in the Legislative Council today (December 5):
 
Question:
 
     The Government launched the Accredited Registers Scheme for Healthcare Professions (AR Scheme) in 2016. The AR Scheme aims to enhance the current society-based registration arrangement of the relevant professions under the principle of professional autonomy and it operates under the principle of "one profession, one professional body, one register". The Accreditation Agent appointed by the Department of Health is responsible for accrediting for each profession one professional body that has met the prescribed standards under the AR Scheme, and the accredited professional body is responsible for administering the relevant register of professionals. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) whether it will issue guidelines to those accredited professional bodies to stipulate that when vetting and approving applications for inclusion in the relevant register of professionals, they should not require applicants to submit practice information which contains personal data and medical records of their patients, so as to protect patients' privacy; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
 
(2) of the specific measures in place to ensure that in setting the relevant accreditation standards for their professionals, accredited professional bodies uphold the principle of fairness and reasonableness, and do not exclude qualified professionals as far as possible; and
 
(3) as I have learnt that two professional bodies of clinical psychology with representativeness in the profession (namely, the Division of Clinical Psychology of The Hong Kong Psychological Society Limited and the Hong Kong Association of Doctors in Clinical Psychology) have vastly divergent views on the standards to be adopted for accreditation, whether the Government has formulated measures to continue to take forward the AR Scheme for the clinical psychology profession under the circumstances that such differences cannot be resolved?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     My reply to the question raised by the Hon Lam Cheuk-ting is as follows:
 
     The Government launched the Pilot Accredited Registers Scheme for Healthcare Professions (the AR Scheme) in late 2016.  Under the principle of professional autonomy, the AR Scheme aims to enhance the society-based registration arrangements for healthcare professions which are currently not subject to statutory registration, with a view to assuring the professional competence of healthcare professionals and providing more information for the public to make informed decisions.  The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care of the Chinese University of Hong Kong has been appointed as the independent Accreditation Agent of the AR Scheme.
 
     Having examined all applications received, the accreditation team of the Accreditation Agent considered that five healthcare professions, namely audiologists, clinical psychologists, dietitians, educational psychologists and speech therapists, were preliminarily assessed to meet the criteria for accreditation process under the AR Scheme.  Regarding the accreditation applications from the Hong Kong Institute of Speech Therapists and the Hong Kong Institute of Audiologists, the Department of Health accepted the recommendations by the Accreditation Agent and announced the accreditation results for the speech therapist and audiologist professions in April and November 2018 respectively.  For the other three healthcare professions, namely dietitians, educational psychologists and clinical psychologists, the Accreditation Agent will commence the accreditation processes in phases according to the readiness of each profession.  Upon completion of the accreditation, the Accreditation Agent will review the effectiveness of the AR Scheme and report to the Government with recommended measures for improvement.  The Government will continue to forge ahead with the AR Scheme with a view to paving the way for mapping out a statutory registration regime for these professions.
 
(1) and (2) The Accreditation Agent of the AR Scheme is responsible for assessing whether the applying healthcare professional body has met the standards for accreditation.  These standards include governance, operational effectiveness, risk management and quality improvement, standards for registrants, educational and training requirements, as well as management of the register.  According to the accreditation standards, the accredited healthcare professional bodies are required to set standards of practice for relevant healthcare professions, which includes a mechanism on confidentiality in handling information of registrants and other relevant information.  These healthcare professional bodies have to subscribe and adhere to a set of ethical principles for its governance covering, at the least, confidentiality, independence, objectivity and fairness.  They are also required under the accreditation standards to set, promote and publish standards of good practice in respect of professional behaviour based on an ethical framework and technical competence within a defined body of knowledge of the professions of which the register is held.  Moreover, the AR Scheme also requires the professional bodies to undertake a self-assessment and external peer review process, through which they, as holders of the voluntary registers of their profession, demonstrate their abilities to meet acceptable standards of quality, and commitment to take action when necessary to protect the public.  Professional bodies applying for the AR Scheme should demonstrate a broad representation of their profession, operate in a non-exclusive manner and maintain a well-established operation of professional practice.
 
(3) Based on the criterion that "healthcare professional bodies holding registers of healthcare professionals should have a broad representation of the corresponding profession and an established operation for a substantive period", the Accreditation Agent of the AR Scheme considered that the Division of Clinical Psychology of the Hong Kong Psychological Society (HKPS-DCP) had initially fulfilled the requirements to proceed with the accreditation process first.  The Accreditation Agent notified the two applying bodies concerned in writing in June 2018.
 
     The Accreditation Agent has explicitly requested the HKPS-DCP to thoroughly engage relevant stakeholders including the Hong Kong Association of Doctors in Clinical Psychology, other local clinical psychologists and relevant training institutes in the consideration and formulation of education and training requirements of clinical psychologists in order to demonstrate inclusiveness in admitting professionals from different educational background and training with reasonable standard.  By doing so, healthcare services will be provided with due protections to the interest of the public.
 
     We understand that the HKPS-DCP has conducted consultations to collect views from the profession as well as the public on the setting up of a new register for clinical psychologists, including views on resolving the differences on the education and training requirements of clinical psychologists within the profession.  The Accreditation Agent has been maintaining ongoing liaison with the above parties in respect of the application to facilitate communication within the profession for reaching a consensus on the registration standards for the profession.
 
     The Government respects the professional autonomy of healthcare professions and wish the clinical psychologist profession to reach a consensus on the relevant standards, with a view to jointly setting up a register for the clinical psychologist profession.  Meanwhile, depending on whether the proposal prepared by the HKPS-DCP after consultations has met the accreditation standards, and the views received from the relevant stakeholders, we have requested the Accreditation Agent to tender its recommendations on accreditation result to the Government.

     Following is a question by the Dr Hon Chiang Lai-wan and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, in the Legislative Council today (December 5):
 
Question:
 
     Last month, the Hospital Authority (HA) announced three medical incidents, in which healthcare workers had failed to spot at an opportune time the abnormal lung shadows appearing on the X-ray films of three patients (from the Prince of Wales Hospital, Princess Margaret Hospital and Queen Mary Hospital respectively) who were suffering/suspected of suffering from lung cancer, resulting in delays in the diagnosis and treatment of the patients for periods as long as 20 to 33 months. Under the existing mechanism, the patients concerned and their family members may lodge complaints and ‍claims with HA in respect of medical incidents. In the past three years, HA received a total of 342 claims arising from medical incidents. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
 
(1) the respective current stages of lung cancer from which the patients in the aforesaid incidents are suffering, and the follow-up treatment they are receiving;
 
(2) as HA has established a Root Cause Analysis Panel to investigate the aforesaid incidents, the scope and progress of the investigation;
 
(3) the number of patients who underwent chest X-ray examinations, and the number of such patients diagnosed with lung cancer, at each public hospital in each of the past three years;
 
(4) regarding those patients who underwent chest X-ray examinations at the aforesaid three hospitals in the past three years but abnormalities were not spotted in their X-ray films at that time, whether HA will arrange experienced radiologists to read afresh the X-ray films concerned so as to expeditiously diagnose and treat patients of oversight cases; if HA will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
 
(5) the number of claims arising from medical incidents reported since January 2015 under the medical incidents insurance scheme of HA, broken down by public hospital, as well as the number of such claims referred to mediation and the amount of compensation involved;
 
(6) whether HA will review the manpower and workload of the relevant departments of public hospitals and ensure that all X-ray films are read by experienced radiologists; if HA will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
 
(7) whether HA has measures in place to avoid the recurrence of similar types of incidents so as to protect patients' rights and interests; if HA does, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     My reply to the various parts of the question raised by the Dr Hon Chiang Lai-wan is as follows:
 
(1) Prince of Wales Hospital, Princess Margaret Hospital and Queen Mary Hospital have sought to arrange follow-up examinations for the patients concerned, and will formulate and provide the most suitable treatment plans for them.  To protect patients' privacy, the Hospital Authority (HA) will not disclose further information of the patients.
 
(2) The HA has established a Root Cause Analysis Panel to comprehensively examine the three cases as well as the workflow and services of each of the hospitals, with a view to exploring how to better support healthcare staff and ensuring that they can identify abnormalities in chest X-ray examinations in a more timely manner.  The Panel is chaired by the Chief of Service, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Tuen Mun Hospital and Pok Oi Hospital, and includes representatives from the HA's Central Co-ordinating Committees of various specialties.  The Panel is expected to complete a report with recommendations on improvement measures in eight weeks.
 
(3) The numbers of attendances for chest X-ray examinations in the HA in the past three years are set out in the table below:
 

 
     The HA does not keep statistical information on the number of patients diagnosed with lung cancer in respect of the above attendances.
 
(4) The respective clinical departments of the hospitals concerned will consider the clinical needs and treatment plans of individual patients to decide whether it is necessary to conduct further examinations and arrange radiologists to read their X-ray films.
 
(5) The numbers of medical incident claims reported by each HA cluster from January 2015 to the end of October 2018 are set out in the table below:
 

* Claims reported under the medical incidents insurance scheme of the HA.
 
     Compensation and mediation in respect of the above claims are as follows:
 

Notes:
1. Claims reported under the medical incidents insurance scheme of the HA.
2. The number of claims reported in a particular year includes the number of claims settled through mediation in that year.  For example, for the claims reported in 2015, as at the end of October 2018, a total of 128 claims were received, of which 27 were settled out of court (including 3 cases settled during mediation).
3. Including claims settled out of court after legal proceedings had commenced.
4. Included in the number of claims settled out of court.
5. Of the total amount of compensation in this row, $4.38 million was paid for claims settled during mediation.  As compensation agreements must be kept confidential and the number of claims settled during mediation is relatively small, the HA is unable to provide a breakdown of the compensation paid according to the agreements reached by mediation.
 
(6) The HA currently provides clinical services through management teams of various specialties.  After an X-ray examination of a patient, the image(s) will be uploaded to the Clinical Management System for doctors to read and make diagnosis.  If necessary and depending on the situation, doctors of various specialties will consult radiologists to prepare a report so as to arrange suitable treatment for the patient.  Moreover, the HA conducts regular reviews of the manpower and workload of healthcare staff to ensure that clinical and service needs are met.
 
(7) The HA's Head Office will disclose to the public salient information of incidents through the media in a timely manner, and will enhance the awareness of its staff in this regard.  The HA will implement improvement measures, to be explored and devised by the Panel after root cause analysis, so as to avoid the recurrence of similar types of incidents and ensure patients' safety.

     Following is a question by the Dr Hon Fernando Cheung and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, in the Legislative Council today (December 5):
 
Question:
 
     At present, there are 45 registered nursing homes for elderly persons (NHEPs) in Hong Kong. The Private Healthcare Facilities Bill (the Bill) proposed to bring NHEPs within the ambit of the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance (Cap. 459) and its Regulation. When the Council went into Committee during its scrutiny of the Bill on the 15th of last month, the Government moved an amendment to delete a clause which sought to provide that the minimum area of floor space for each resident (area/resident) for NHEPs shall be 6.5 square metres. The amendment and the amended Bill were subsequently passed. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the following information in respect of each of the aforesaid 45 NHEPs: (i) the net operational floor area, (ii) the number of places offered and (iii) the area/resident;
 
(2) given that the current legislation has not provided for the minimum area/resident for NHEPs, of the measures put in place by the Government to ensure that the area/resident in NHEPs will not fall below 6.5 square metres;
 
(3) whether it will issue a code of practice to operators of NHEPs on the minimum area/resident and other matters; if so, of the timetable of the relevant work; and
 
(4) of the respective additional numbers of (i) NHEPs and (ii) places for elderly person therein in each of the past 10 years?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
(1) There are at present 45 nursing homes for elderly persons registered under the Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Maternity Homes Registration Ordinance (Cap. 165).  Among these homes, some are concurrently registered under the Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) Ordinance (Cap. 459).  A list of the 45 aforementioned nursing homes for elderly persons, as well as the numbers of beds registered under Cap. 165 in these homes, are at Annex A.
 
(2) and (3) Upon implementation of the provisions on nursing homes under the Private Healthcare Facilities Ordinance, the Government will, in light of the requirements under the Code of Practice for Private Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Maternity Homes currently in force, suitably incorporate the relevant regulatory standards pertaining to nursing homes in the existing Code of Practice for Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons).
 
(4) The numbers of nursing homes for elderly persons registered under Cap. 165 and the numbers of beds registered under Cap. 165 therein in each of the past 10 years are at Annex B.

     Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee, in the Legislative Council today (December 5):
      
Question：     
      
     Regarding the issuance of Hong Kong identity cards by the Immigration Department, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the respective numbers of Hong Kong Permanent Identity Cards (HKPICs) and Hong Kong Identity Cards issued in the past decade, with a breakdown by the applicants' gender and the age group (i.e. aged (i) below 16, (ii) 16 to 24, (iii) 25 to 40, (iv) 41 to 64 and (v) 65 or above) to which they belonged when they applied for the identity cards; and 

(2) of a breakdown, by the following circumstances of issuance, of the number of HKPICs issued in the past decade: 

(i) permanent residents applying for the first time upon reaching the age of 11;

(ii) permanent residents applying for a replacement card upon reaching the age of 18;

(iii) Chinese citizens, who had met the eligibility criteria for application as they had ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years, applying for the first time;

(iv) non-Chinese citizens, who had met the eligibility criteria for application as they had ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years and had taken Hong Kong as their place of permanent residence, applying for the first time;

(v) children under the age of 11 applying in connection with their applications for a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Passport;

(vi) cardholders applying for a replacement card because their cards were lost, destroyed, damaged or defaced;

(vii) cardholders applying for a replacement card because they had changed the registered particulars on their cards; and

(viii) applications made in other circumstances, with a breakdown of such number by the 10 most common circumstances?

Reply:

President,

(1) According to the records of the Immigration Department (ImmD), the numbers of Hong Kong Permanent Identity Cards (HKPICs) and Hong Kong Identity Cards (HKICs) issued (Note 1) in the past 10 years are tabulated below: 
 

 
     ImmD has not maintained other breakdown figures mentioned in the question.

(2) The numbers of HKPICs which ImmD issued to persons aged 18 or above, persons aged 11 to 17, and persons aged under 11; and the numbers of HKPICs ImmD issued for replacement due to loss, destruction, damage or defacement of cards or changes of registered particulars on the cards in the past 10 years are tabulated below: 
 

     ImmD has not maintained other breakdown figures mentioned in the question.

Note 1: Including identity cards issued due to loss, destruction, damage or defacement, registration of identity cards for persons who have attained the age of 11 and 18, and replacement of identity cards due to changes of registered particulars, etc.

Note 2: Under the Registration of Persons Regulations, children under the age of 11 are not required to register for an identity card unless the children are Hong Kong permanent residents who need to apply for HKPICs in connection with their applications for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passports.

Note 3: Excluding HKPICs issued due to loss, destruction, damage or defacement or changes of registered particulars.

     Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at the Opening Ceremony of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) SmartBiz Expo and Asian E-tailing Summit this morning (December 5):
 
Margaret (Executive Director of the HKTDC, Ms Margaret Fong), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
 
     Good morning.
 
     I'm pleased to join you today for the joint opening of the SmartBiz Expo and the Asian E-tailing Summit.
 
     The Expo and the Summit debuted last year. And they're back again for good reason. They bring companies and professionals together. They create connections. And they help keep you informed of the latest e-tailing and business technology developments. In short, the Expo and the Summit help you, and your business, excel.
 
     So does Hong Kong as well. Last year, Hong Kong ranked 16th in the B2C E-commerce Index, designed by the United Nations Conference on Trade Development to track global e-trade environment. 
 
     Our telecommunications infrastructure is among the most advanced in the world, with a household broadband penetration rate of about 93 per cent, and our mobile penetration rate is sky high, at almost 250 per cent.
 
     Our strengths as a regional logistics hub and sophisticated ICT centre are supercharged by Hong Kong's free flow of capital, goods and information, and by our unparalleled supply-chain management services.
 
     At the SmartBiz Expo you'll find plenty of examples of innovative Hong Kong technology brought to life by our renowned R&D centres and institutions.
 
     The Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute, working with a Swedish organisation, for example, has developed a Biometric Access Control System. It uses a biometric verification device to capture a person's palm vein and palm print patterns. The fusion technology offers high levels of security for identification and verification in e-tailing.
 
     Then there's our Logistics and Supply Chain MultiTech R&D Centre, jointly run by three local universities. The Centre is working to connect our logistics industry with the Zhuhai Electronics Port for import and export trade declarations. That will expedite processing time for such declarations, while giving companies a more accurate estimation of tax rates.
 
     At the Government level, last December, we released the Smart City Blueprint for Hong Kong, underscoring the Government's commitment to improving quality of life for the people of Hong Kong, while boosting the effectiveness of city management.
 
     We're going to be a smart city in any number of ways, including the provision of an electronic identity for all Hong Kong residents.
 
     Through electronic identity, citizens will be able to conduct government and commercial transactions online, simply and securely. It will also enable business and consumers to connect, promoting e-commerce, digital trade and online payment.
 
     Our Innovation and Technology Bureau set up TechConnect last year to help Government departments boost their operational efficiency through technology. To date, the programme has supported more than 40 departmental technology projects. They range from enhance customs clearance for cross-boundary vehicles and cargo to strengthening integrated weather monitoring.
 
     We're also setting up a Smart Government Innovation Lab, inviting industry, including e-tailers, to put forward I&T ideas for various public services. And we’ll arrange trials and technology testing for suitable proposals. This should boost business opportunities for local start-ups and SMEs.
 
     To encourage SMEs to make wider use of technology, we launched the Technology Voucher Programme in 2016 which subsidises SMEs in using technological services and solutions to improve productivity, or upgrade or transform their business processes. The eligibility of the Programme was relaxed earlier this year to benefit start-ups operating for less than one year and remove the restriction on the number of staff employed.
 
     Ladies and gentlemen, I know you will enjoy today's Asian E-tailing Summit.  And with this year's SmartBiz Expo running for three days, you've got good time to check out the Expo's 500-plus exhibitors in different smart thematic zones such as the Techtopia, which is packed with the latest technology; the Boosters, offering SMEs one-stop shopping for business services; and the Hatchery, where tech start-ups can showcase their golden eggs to potential partners.
 
     It's all designed to help you, and your business, connect and excel.
 
     For that, I'm grateful to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, organiser of the Summit and the Expo.
 
     Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you smart business and a rewarding New Year.
 
     Thank you.