Chinese New Year A&E Visits Drop Over 10%, Alleviating Healthcare Pressure

Accident and Emergency Departments of public hospitals operate smoothly during Chinese New Year holidays

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

The spokesperson for the Hospital Authority (HA) announced today (February 20) that over the past three days of the Chinese New Year holidays, the number of patients attending the 18 Accident and Emergency Departments (A&Es) under the HA decreased by over 10 per cent compared to the same period last year. This indicates that the public healthcare fees and charges reform has achieved its desired effect, alleviating service pressure on A&Es and enabling them to concentrate resources on patients with urgent medical needs.

The Hospital Authority (HA), Photo source: reference image

The Chairman of the HA Coordinating Committee in A&E, Dr Axel Siu, said, "During the past three-day public holiday, the number of patients attending A&Es decreased by approximately 11 per cent to 15 per cent compared to the same period last year (see Table). A&Es operations across all hospitals remained normal, allowing patients with urgent medical needs to receive prompt treatment. Less urgent patients also experienced shorter waiting times. This demonstrates that the various measures introduced under the public healthcare fees and charges reform are proving effective, enabling A&Es to perform their emergency care function."

Dr Siu further explained that in the small hours of today, some A&Es needed to deploy healthcare staff to resuscitate patient cases, coupled with the usual increase in A&E attendances following the extended holidays, which led to longer waiting times for some less urgent patients this morning. Dr Siu emphasised that, despite the increased workload in A&Es, services for critical, emergency and urgent patients were not affected. Additional staff have been deployed to enhance service, ensuring all patients received appropriate treatment. By the afternoon, waiting times for less urgent patients had progressively decreased, with most receiving suitable care within a few hours.

The HA anticipates that public hospital A&E services will remain busy in the coming days after the Chinese New Year holidays. Non-urgent patients are advised to avoid using A&E services and to seek consultation at Family Medicine Clinics, private doctors, or 24-hour outpatient services at private hospitals to reduce pressure on public hospital A&Es.

From January 1 to February 10 this year, a total of 199 406 patients attended the 18 A&Es under the HA, reflecting a significant decrease of nearly 10.9 per cent compared to the same period last year. Among these, 98 988 patients were classified as semi-urgent and non-urgent, a reduction of about 18.6 per cent from the previous year.

During this period, waiting times for all critical and emergency patients fully met the pledge targets, with critical patients receiving immediate treatment and emergency patients being treated within 15 minutes. For patients triaged as urgent cases, the percentage of those being treated within 30 minutes - meeting the service pledge target - increased from 80.1 per cent last year to 86.9 per cent, with the average waiting time reduced from 24 minutes to 20 minutes. The average waiting times for semi-urgent and non-urgent patients also decreased from 136 minutes to 124 minutes.

Table: Attendance of A&Es under the HA

2025

2026

Rate of change

The first day of Chinese New Year

3 900

3 288

-15.7%

The second day of Chinese New Year

5 025

4 467

-11.1%

The third day of Chinese New Year

5 433

4 620

-15.0%

The Accident and Emergency Department, Photo source: reference image

Employers, contractors and employees should be aware of electrical safety at work during rainstorms

As the rainstorm warning has been issued by the Hong Kong Observatory, the Labour Department (LD) reminds employers and contractors that they should adopt necessary work arrangements and take suitable safety measures to protect the safety of their employees when they are carrying out electrical work or handling electrical plant.

A spokesman for the LD said today (June 13) that employers and contractors should avoid assigning employees to carry out electrical work (such as electric arc welding work) or handle electrical plant at places affected by rainstorms, and should refer to the "Code of Practice in Times of Adverse Weather and 'Extreme Conditions'" and the "Guide on Safety at Work in times of Inclement Weather" issued by the LD.

Even if electrical work is carried out or electrical plant is handled at places not affected by a rainstorm, suitable safety measures must still be adopted to prevent an electric shock as the air would be more humid. Such measures include:

(i) Ensure that all live parts of an electrical installation are isolated from the power supply source and rendered dead, and the isolation from the power supply source must be maintained as long as electrical work is being carried out;

(ii) Before carrying out any electrical work or handling any electrical plant, cut off and lock out the power supply source, then test the circuit concerned to confirm that it is dead and display suitable warning notices, and issue a work permit thereafter;

(iii) Ensure that protective devices (such as suitable and adequate fuses and circuit breakers) for the electrical installations or electrical plant have been installed and maintained in good working order, and portable electric tools must be double-insulated or properly earthed;

(iv) Provide suitable personal protective equipment such as insulating gloves and insulating mats for employees; and

(v) If live electrical work is unavoidable, a comprehensive risk assessment should be conducted by a competent person and the appropriate safety precautions should be taken to remove or properly control the electrical hazards involved before such work can proceed.

In addition, employees should co-operate with the employer or contractor to follow the safety instructions and use the safety equipment provided.

The LD has published guidebooks and leaflets on electrical work safety. These safety publications are available free from divisional offices of the department or can be downloaded from its website (www.labour.gov.hk/eng/public/content2_8.htm).

Should there be any questions about occupational safety and health matters, please contact the Occupational Safety Officer of the LD at 2559 2297.

Source: AI-found images