The new chief executive of the Hospital Authority (HA), Libby Lee, has again emphasised the importance of fostering a culture where staff are willing to speak up.

She first brought up the matter when she assumed her role on August 1, highlighting recent medical incidents at public hospitals.

At a press meeting held a week later, Lee mentioned that she had already been gathering ideas to make improvements. She stressed that HA staff should feel free to report any concerns without fear.

“[Fostering a speak-up culture] is something we can start day in and day out during meetings,” she said.

“For example, you keep a welcoming environment for the staff to speak up their thoughts. Of course, they have to provide evidence, data, support to their suggestions, and we have an open, transparent system for discussion with logical arguments, and then sometimes we need to agree to disagree.”

Lee also suggested that more frequent meetings with patient groups should be held to gather input.

Regarding hospital services, she said the HA is committed to reducing patient waiting times and further integrating technology into the process. Currently, patients can spend up to three hours completing their appointments, which includes making payments, scheduling blood tests and arranging follow-ups.

Lee said these tasks could be streamlined to just 15 minutes through the use of self-service kiosks and the "HA Go" app.

In addition, she said the HA will conduct a review aimed at shortening waiting times for new cases at specialist outpatient clinics. For example, doctors may be asked to handle a larger percentage of first-time cases compared to follow-up visits each day.

“Previously, we had an attrition of doctors and nurses. [The situation] is getting better now.

“We feel this is the right moment, apart from looking at increasing the capacity, we are now at the juncture to increase the operating flow to free up more quotas... so that we can see more first-time cases.”

Another proposal is to have chronic patients fill out a questionnaire before their regular follow-ups, allowing those in stable condition to avoid in-person appointments with a doctor.