The Hospital Authority's Tin Shui Wai Primary Care Partnership Project is working well with six private doctors joining it and positive feedback from patients.

This was the message from authority Director (Cluster Services) Dr Cheung Wai-lun today, saying patients praised the project's convenience.

Launched in June, the project is entering its second phase by sending invitation letters to 729 eligible chronic patients with stable conditions to join it. More than 300 enrolled in the first phase.

Under the programme the authority buys primary-care services from local private doctors to provide medical consultation to patients who regularly attend general outpatient clinics for chronic illnesses like hypertension, diabetes and osteoarthritis.

Patients invited in the first phrase are mainly from eight housing estates in northern Tin Shui Wai.

The project will run for 36 months, recruiting 1,000 patients. They pay the doctor the same fee charged by general outpatient clinics - $45 per attendance inclusive of drugs. Doctors receive $150 a consultation which includes patient fees and project subsidies.

The authority provides the drugs and clinical examinations while doctors input patients' key clinical information into the authority's patient record database through an electronic system.

It has also formed a help desk and a hotline (2616 4856) at Tin Shui Wai Health Centre to answer enquiries.

A review will be conducted in a year to assess the effectiveness of the project.