The Hospital Authority (HA) has stressed that decisions on how and where to beef up public healthcare services will "depend on the actual situation", amid calls to offer more general outpatient services at night.

Tony Ko, the authority's chief executive, also said on Thursday reforms to the city's public healthcare system should be looked at "in totality".

At present, less than one-third of 74 government general outpatient clinics offer evening consultations, with services running until 10pm.

During a Legislative Council meeting on Wednesday, health chief Lo Chung-mau was asked if authorities were planning to boost evening services so people need not seek help at accident and emergency wards.

Lo responded by saying that work is being done to increase capacity.

Asked about offering more night-time services, Ko said that the HA is working to expand general outpatient clinic capacity.

"We work closely with not only our primary healthcare colleagues to provide more sessions both during daytime, holidays, weekends as well as night time, and at the same time, we have close liaison with our private medical practitioner counterparts, encouraging them to do more sessions during holidays, during weekends, giving more general support to patients," he added.

With the administration facing a budget deficit, chairman Henry Fan said the HA is looking at ways to trim its expenditure. The body is set to receive some HK$100 billion in government subvention for 2025/26.

Fan said the authority should focus on boosting productivity, including cutting administrative work for frontline staff, further using technology and simplifying procurement procedures.

The most painless way to save money is to reduce waste, he added.

Separately, public hospitals recorded a turnover rate of 5 percent for full-time doctors in the 12 months ending in January. Nearly 340 doctors left the public workforce, while some 7,200 doctors remain.

There are now over 29,500 nurses, with a departure rate of 7.2 percent during the same period.