HONG KONG: More training opportunities and better working conditions for nurses are promised as the government takes steps to alleviate a critical staff shortage that has forced closure of hospital wards and was blamed for a mass book-off of nurses on sick leave last month at Queen Mary Hospital.

"In consideration of the aging population and the rising public expectations on the quality of healthcare services, we expect that the local demand for nurses will remain strong," Secretary for Food and Health York Chow said. "We anticipate that there will be more than 1,400 nurse graduates each year in the coming few years."

The government promises that programs for training nurses will be expanded to meet the demand. The University Grants Committee will provide 60 additional places for degree programs in nursing in the academic year 2010-11. Nursing training will also be provided by the Hospital Authority by way of reopened nursing schools that had been closed and by enhancing specialist training for nurses currently on the job.

The shortage of nurses reached a crisis point last year. Lack of staff forced the closure of a 36-bed ward at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in the middle of 2009.

On December 2, thirty surgeries at Queen Mary Hospital had to be cancelled after more than half the nurses scheduled for duty that day called in sick. Eleven surgical nurses at the hospital tendered their resignations.

Legislators raised concerns that the nurse graduates are likely to seek careers in the private health sector rather than in the public hospitals.

Chow said the administration has implemented several measures to improve the employment conditions of nurses in recent years so as to strengthen the recruitment of new staff. These measures include increased starting salary and extension of the contract period for registered nurses to six years. The specialist training offered by public hospitals can also help to retain nurses in the public sector, he said.

"The salary offered by private hospitals is usually higher than that of public hospitals, but benefits are better for nurses who work at the public sector," said a 24-year-old female nurse working in a public hospital in Kwun Tong who declined to give her name. "In public hospitals, senior nurses who have at least five years experience are usually offered medical courses to improve their skills," she added.

She said the manpower shortage at her hospital is very serious. Lunch breaks have been cut from one hour to 30 minutes and nurses are typically are so busy that they miss their allotted 15-minute break to go to the toilet.

"On average, one nurse has to take care of 10 patients and that is really too overloaded for us."

She said it would be better if the nurse-to-patient ratio can be reduced to 1:6.

(HK Edition 01/21/2010 page1)