The new chief executive of the Hospital Authority hopes to build a new culture in which staff are not afraid to speak up and medical services are designed from a patient's perspective to boost efficiency and effectiveness.

Speaking on her first day in the role, Dr Libby Lee said the old ways of delivering hospital services have led to "fatigue".

Therefore, she added, in the past few years they have caused "fatigue" over waiting times or even "medical incidents".

With a manpower shortage at hospitals easing, there is room to review whether waiting times can be slashed, she said.

For instance, Lee pointed out, patients seeking specialist services face queues for consultation, follow-up appointments, medication collections and further check-ups.

"Apart from listening to what they think about the Hospital Authority, what they think the improvement should be, I guess when we design our service model, design our facilities, we need to think [from] the angle of the patients, from the perspective of patients, how they can actually get the service more efficiently and then improve their satisfaction," she said.

"So this is the way that we should improve our communication with the patients, through patient groups perhaps, and also throughout the day-in day-out interaction with the patients."

Lee also hopes staff will not be afraid to speak up if they have suggestions or new ideas by building such a culture.

"If you are eager to speak up, that means you feel safe. How do you feel safe in an environment for you to speak up?

"I would say it's a fostering of a culture that is inclusive – no matter what you think, if you have a reasoning and you have some ideas, you are not afraid to express it and this is [a] kind of speak-up culture... I want to create the culture within our colleagues or even with the patients," she said.

Lee went on to say that the process will require patience, understanding and trust.

Staff are the "cornerstone and foundation" of the Hospital Authority, Lee said, and their quality and attitude will affect patient care.

She hopes the team, including both management and workers at hospital clusters, can step up their communications with the community to gain a better understanding of the public's needs.

In coming up with policies and service models for the future, she hopes the authority will take more advice from frontline workers.

Lee, a former under secretary for health, returned to the Hospital Authority after more than three years when her predecessor, Dr Tony Ko, stepped down after six years as chief executive.