Enquiries on HA Go application
Dear Hospital Authority,
We are B.A. in Translation Studies students who have participated in a GE course conducted by Dr Simon Wang in HKBU. Recently we have compared the two applications, HA Go and 18 CM Clinics, thoroughly and noticed that there are three existing problems in the 18 CM Clinics app. Firstly, due to the lack of private clinics’ participation in the app, patients have limited options in seeking medical treatment. Secondly, the app failed to satisfy patients’ different needs since it only allows one appointment each time. Thirdly, the English language is not available on the 中醫動 website, which may affect the app’s popularity. In order to dig into the root problems, we would like to access the data related to the two applications. As we sincerely hope our suggestions can improve the app’s quality, please answer the following questions under the Code on Access to Information:
1. How many people have registered for the HA Go app? Please provide the latest figure.
2. What is the percentage of the patients registering for GP services through HA Go out of the total no. of patients? What is the proportion of the patients who register through phone or the doctors? Please provide the figures and relevant data if available. While we believe the HA should have done such data collection to assess the popularity of HA Go, we do not want to cause extra work for the HA if the data are not readily available. Then please refer to Q.3 and provide the sampling data.
3. We have chosen two clinics, which are Kwong Wah Hospital’s General Out-patient Department and Shatin (Tai Wai) General Out-patient Clinic, for our data analysis. Therefore, please answer the following questions.
3.1 In March 2021 and March 2020, how many residents made their appointments in the two clinics respectively through the HA Go application?
3.2 In March 2021 and March 2020, how many residents made their appointments in the two clinics respectively through telephone appointment service?
3.3 In March 2021 and March 2020, how many residents made their appointments in the two clinics through the doctors or other channels?
Thank you for considering our request.
Yours sincerely,
Chan Siu Ngan
Ng Yu Yan
Peng Xinyu
Wong Hau Tung
Department of Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies
Hong Kong Baptist University
Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
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Hospital Authority ([1]www.ha.org.hk)
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Dear All,
Thank you for your Application for Access to Information dated 30
September 2021.
As the processing of your request involves consultation with the
departments concerned, we are unable to provide you with the information
sought at this stage. You will be advised further in relation to your
request on or before 20 October 2021.
Should you have any questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to
contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Sandy Chu(Miss)
Access to Information Officer
Hospital Authority Head Office
(Tel.: 2300 6568/2300 6555)
Dear All,
Further to my reply dated 8 October 2021, please find below the Hospital
Authority (HA) Head Office’s responses to the items you requested:
Item 1
As at 5 October 2021, there were a total of 791,960 registered HA Go
members.
Items 2 and 3
The service of the HA’s General Out-patient Clinics (GOPCs) is primarily
used by the elders, low-income individuals, and patients with chronic
diseases. Patients under the care of GOPCs comprise two major categories:
chronic disease patients with stable medical conditions and episodic
disease patients with relatively mild symptoms. Among these patients,
around half are patients with chronic diseases. Patients with chronic
diseases requiring follow-up consultations will be assigned a timeslot
after each consultation and do not need to make separate appointment. For
patients with episodic illnesses, they can reserve consultation timeslot
available in the next 24 hours through two booking means offered by the
HA, namely the GOPC Telephone Appointment System (TAS) and “Book GOPC”
function in HA’s one-stop mobile application “HA Go”.
In order to alleviate the crowded queuing conditions in clinics and reduce
the risk of cross-infection among patients at GOPCs, the GOPC TAS was
launched in 2006. To provide an additional means for members of the public
to book appointment in GOPC, the pilot programme of “Book GOPC” mobile
application was launched on 19 June 2020 (initially covered GOPCs in the
Central and Western District and Southern District (except Stanley General
Out-patient Clinic)). The “Book GOPC” mobile application was then
officially rolled out to clinics in other districts in phases since 24
July 2020, and all GOPCs have been covered since 25 September 2020.
The service volume of GOPCs is huge. Every year, GOPCs serve over 1.5
million patients with nearly 6 million attendances. To inform members of
the public of the overview of the number of consultation quotas of various
GOPCs and the general service capacity of each clinic, the HA has been
providing information on the average number of consultation quotas
(including the consultation quotas for patients with chronic diseases and
patients with episodic illnesses booked via GOPC TAS and “Book GOPC”
mobile application) of each GOPC for the preceding four weeks by district
on its GOPC webpage. For details, please visit the HA website at
[1]https://www.ha.org.hk/goto/gopc/en. (“Useful Information” > “[2]General
Out-patient Clinic average number of quota for the preceding 4 weeks”).
All consultation quotas are fully utilised.
The GOPC TAS and the “Book GOPC” mobile application, which are just the
two booking means for GOPC appointment booking by patients with episodic
illnesses, are not used as the classification of consultation quotas. At
the corporate level, the HA does not have the official statistics that are
compiled based on the way you classified. According to paragraph 1.14 of
the Code on Access to Information, the Code does not oblige departments to
create a record which does not exist.
If you have any questions about this reply, please do not hesitate to
contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Sandy Chu(Miss)
Access to Information Officer
Hospital Authority Head Office
(Tel.: 2300 6568/2300 6555)
From: [3][Hospital Authority request email]
Sent: Friday, October 8, 2021 5:50 PM
To: '[FOI #788 email]'
Cc: '[email address]' ; '[email address]' ;
'[email address]'
Subject: Application for Access to Information (Chan Siu Ngan et al.)
Freedom of Information request - Enquiries on HA Go application
Dear All,
Thank you for your Application for Access to Information dated 30
September 2021.
As the processing of your request involves consultation with the
departments concerned, we are unable to provide you with the information
sought at this stage. You will be advised further in relation to your
request on or before 20 October 2021.
Should you have any questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to
contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Sandy Chu(Miss)
Access to Information Officer
Hospital Authority Head Office
(Tel.: 2300 6568/2300 6555)
