The proposed scrapping of annual bonuses for senior Hospital Authority executives will save up to $6 million a year, its Chief Executive Shane Solomon says.

Meeting the media today, Mr Solomon said 25 senior executives receive the bonus. He estimated the savings can be achieved by scrapping the bonus system and making changes in executives' responsibilities.

Stressing the authority's aim is serving patients and helping the community, Mr Solomon said people's basic needs have to be dealt with and financial barriers should not stop citizens getting access the public hospital services. However, to achieve a long-term sustainable balanced budget, Mr Solomon said he will look at ways to boost revenue, adding that fee revisions may be a solution.

On the frontline

Mr Solomon said he visited all seven clusters of hospitals and met with frontline staff in the first month of his post.

"People have raised quite a number of wishes. Not surprisingly, the sort of issues they raised are issues about staff morale, a sense of fairness in employment conditions and in workload across the authority," he said.

Issues of trust between management and frontline staff were also raised, along with healthcare financing reform and how the authority distributes money within it.

On the authority's multiple contract terms which have led to disparity among staff, Mr Solomon said increments will be introduced for those who are not promised any increments in their contract. The move, costing the authority about $20 million, will help avoid further disparity in pay. Nevertheless, he admitted the authority will not bring different contracts inline, as the cost will be excessive.

"What I would like to do is find something that works for everybody," Mr Solomon said, adding that he hopes a new contract system can be explored to put staff on the same employment terms and conditions.

Workload balance

Mr Solomon noted doctors are concerned about the unfair distribution of work. Noting some doctors have to work 80 hours a week but some only 44 hours, he admitted an "unequal work, equal pay" situation exists in public hospitals and there is a need to balance out the workload.

He stressed the need to raise job security as the turnover rate of doctors in the authority has increased to 6% from 3%. The authority is, subject to performance, offering nine-year contracts to doctors to boost their confidence and help convince younger doctors to stay with the authority.

Meanwhile, negotiations with doctors about the compensation package for work on holidays in the past years are underway, he added.

On nurses, Mr Solomon said there is an uneven distribution of workload among nurses in different wards. He pledged to improve the situation if additional resources are available.

Cut demand

Noting there is no one simple strategy to tackle all issues in three years, Mr Solomon said one of his targets is to cut demand on hospital services as the authority deals with around 95% of Hong Kong's hospitalisation. Any growth in demand in hospital treatment comes to the authority.

He said changing people's incentives and building primary healthcare services in the community can help cut demand on public hospitals. To get demand prevention measures in place, Mr Solomon said he has to make a lot of partners in his three-year term.

Ways to divert patients who can afford cataract surgery at private hospital services will also be considered as the waiting time for the service is worsening.