Hospital Authority Enhances Patient Privacy Protection: Family Medicine Clinics to Only Accept Calls with Caller ID for Appointment Booking from August 15

Hospital Authority enhances protection of patient privacy Family Medicine Clinics to only accept calls with caller ID for appointment booking

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

The Hospital Authority (HA) announced today (July 31) that, to further safeguard patients' personal data and privacy, starting from August 15, the telephone appointment system (TAS) of Family Medicine Clinics (FMCs) will only accept calls from phone numbers with caller ID for appointment booking.

The Hospital Authority, Photo source: reference image

At present, when patients call the TAS of FMCs, they are required to enter personal information by phone, such as their identity card or birth certificate number and year of birth, to verify the patient's identity. The HA has long attached great importance to protecting personal data and privacy. Therefore, starting from August 15, the FMCs will update the TAS, no longer accepting calls without a caller ID. This will enable the system to accurately record the source of each booking call, facilitate verification of patient information when necessary, and help prevent criminals from using phones without caller ID to impersonate patients when making appointments.

A spokesperson said, "The HA specifically reminds patients with episodic diseases who need consultation services to use a phone with caller ID to make appointments in the future. If a patient calls the TAS from a phone without caller ID, the system will automatically play a recorded message reminding the patient to switch to a phone with caller ID and call the FMC again. We estimate that approximately 15 000 patients will need to switch to using phones with caller ID for appointment bookings in the future."

The spokesperson added, "We encourage patients to use the Book FMC function in the HA mobile application, HA Go, which is more convenient and efficient. For chronic disease patients who require a follow-up, their booking arrangements will remain unchanged. After each follow-up visit, the FMC will arrange the next appointment based on the patient's clinical needs, and the patient does not need to call to make an appointment again."

If a patient's mobile phone has been set to hide the caller ID, they should first enable the "Show my caller ID" function in the settings before calling the TAS of an FMC. If a patient's landline has opted for a per-line blocking, they should dial 1357 before making a call to display the phone number once for that specific call , or contact the telecommunications service provider to cancel the arrangement for per-line blocking.

The telephone appointment service is only provided to people who have registered or used services in any hospital or FMC under the HA previously. New patients (i.e. those who have never registered in the HA nor used HA services) are required to bring their original identity documents and visit any FMC in person to register and verify their information before they can use the telephone appointment service. Help desks have been set up in FMCs to assist those who encounter difficulties in using the telephone appointment service.

Photo source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Approved Kwai Chung Outline Zoning Plan amended

The Town Planning Board today (July 31) announced amendments to the approved Kwai Chung Outline Zoning Plan (OZP).

The amendments mainly involve (i) rezoning a site at the junction of Lei Muk Road and Kwok Shui Road from "Other Specified Uses" ("OU") annotated "Buildings with Historical and Architectural Interests Preserved for Social Welfare Facility Use", "Open Space" and an area shown as 'Road' to "Residential (Group A)5"; (ii) revision to the building height restriction of the "OU" annotated "Columbarium" ("OU(Columbarium)") zone at Tsing Tsuen Road; (iii) rezoning three strips of land at Tsing Tsuen Road from "Green Belt" and "Industrial" ("I") to "OU(Columbarium)"; (iv) rezoning three parcels of land near Wing Kei Road and to the east of Tsuen Wan Chinese Permanent Cemetery (TWCPC) from "OU(Columbarium)", "OU" annotated "Cemetery" ("OU(Cemetery)") and "OU" annotated "Funeral Parlours and Crematorium" ("OU(FPC)") to "I"; (v) rezoning a parcel of land to the east of TWCPC from "OU(Cemetery)" and "I" to "OU(FPC)"; and (vi) rezoning a site at Wo Yi Hop Road from "OU" annotated "Business" to "Residential (Group E)2".

The Notes and Explanatory Statement of the OZP are amended to take into account the above amendments. Opportunity is also taken to update the general information of various land use zones and the planning scheme area, where appropriate.

The draft Kwai Chung OZP No. S/KC/33, incorporating the amendments, is available for public inspection during office hours at (i) the Secretariat of the Town Planning Board, (ii) the Planning Enquiry Counters, (iii) the Tsuen Wan and West Kowloon District Planning Office, and (iv) the Kwai Tsing District Office.

Any person may make written representations in respect of the amendments to the Secretary of the Town Planning Board on or before September 30, 2026. Any person who intends to make a representation is advised to read the Town Planning Board Guidelines No. 29C on "Submission and Processing of Representations and Further Representations" (TPB PG-No. 29C).

Submission of a representation should comply with the requirements set out in TPB PG-No. 29C. In particular, the representer should take note of the following:

* If the representer fails to provide his or her full name and the first four alphanumeric characters of his or her Hong Kong identity card or passport number as required under TPB PG-No. 29C, the representation submitted shall be treated as not having been made; and

* The Secretariat of the Town Planning Board reserves the right to require the representer to provide identity proof for verification.

The Guidelines and the submission form are available at the above locations (i) and (ii) and the Town Planning Board's website (www.tpb.gov.hk).

Copies of the draft Kwai Chung OZP are available for sale at the Map Publications Centre in North Point. The electronic version of the OZP can be viewed on the Town Planning Board's website (www.tpb.gov.hk).

Source: AI-found images