The Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) said on Friday there is an urgent need for increased public awareness of what the processes surrounding the new healthcare charges to be levied next year involve.

The reforms will see fee adjustments across a spectrum of public services, including accident and emergency wards, hospital stays and consultations at specialist and family medicine outpatient clinics, phased in over three stages starting on January 1.

To gauge public understanding of these changes, the FTU conducted a survey from April 22 to May 13, garnering more than 700 responses.

FTU lawmaker Bill Tang said that while most respondents knew about the fee increases, very few were aware of the enhanced fee exemption mechanism, signalling a need for more promotional efforts.

"The government should actively [give] them the information," he said.

For example, Tang said, they give patients leaflets to clearly tell them which criteria fits the new scheme.

Also, he said, "the 'HA Go' [mobile app] is now more and more welcome among patients, so 'HA Go' should be a very good way to promote the new scheme of fee exemptions.

"The government should [make] good use of the network of the local medical centres and district counsellors to promote the new fee exemption scheme together."

Tang said more than a million people in the SAR should qualify for the enhanced exemptions.

He also urged an earlier opening of applications to align with implementation of the reforms and reduce administrative delays.

He further suggested expanding automatic medical fee waivers for Old Age Living Allowance recipients aged 75 or above to those aged 65 or above, saying this would ease the processing burden on healthcare staff while extending support to more seniors.