Hong Kong’s first Chinese medicine hospital will be a "one-stop service" when it opens later this year, an official said on Sunday.

The hospital, in Tseung Kwan O, is due to start rolling out services from December.

On a radio programme, Cheung Wai-lun, project director of the Chinese Medicine Hospital Project Office, said detailed information on what will be on offer, including the fees, will be announced by September or October.

He said the hospital will provide both government-subsidised and private services.

"In principle, it will be a one-stop service, with more self-service elements for the public. All issues can be addressed in one place, eliminating the need to queue at different locations. The workflow will take a patient-centred approach," he said.

Cheung added that beyond clinical care, the hospital will also undertake research and collect clinical evidence to advance the field.

He also highlighted its role in bridging the gap between Western and Chinese practices.

"We all understand that in Hong Kong for our system, Western medicine doctors may not know too much about Chinese medicine and vice versa. Therefore, we will develop a system so that they will discuss the patient situation jointly using a joint consultation model," he said.

"We will base this on evidence-based medicine, in terms of the interventions and also the outcome of the patient, to ensure that the two streams of medicine can really cooperate and communicate with each other to bring the maximum benefit to patients."

Bian Zhaoxiang, associate vice-president of Clinical Chinese Medicine at Hong Kong Baptist University, said the services on offer will include general and referral outpatient care, as well as inpatient treatment.

Bian said preparations to open the hospital are intensifying, including recruitment and the establishment of clinical protocols and operational frameworks.