New International Leaders Initiative

25 March 2010

The Hong Kong Hospital Authority in is a statutory body which manages all public healthcare. It employs over 54,800 people across 41 public hospitals, 48 specialist clinics and 74 general clinics. Respiratory care, service planning and redesign are a priority which sits along side an increasing focus on multidisciplinary team working, health professional education and emergency care:

- There were 30,935 COPD episodes in 2008

- Between 6-11% of total medical bed days were due to COPD

- 25% unplanned readmissions in 2007 were due to COPD “It takes me an hour to walk to the nearest store.

"I thought I could get some fresh air. But in the end, I’d just be drenched with sweat and left with trembling limbs. I'm good for nothing, relying on people for every single task. Even those at the hospital didn't seem to care. They told me this is how COPD is like” said one patient.

Under the leadership of Anna Leung, a lecturer in nursing with responsibility for sourcing overseas speciality nursing courses, the Hospital Authority had identified several objectives which might best be achieved by exposing a team of senior health professionals to some of the new and innovative primary and community respiratory care services emerging from the UK.

Specific areas of interest included:

• New models of service organisation and care delivery

• Disease management approaches

• Change management and service improvement in community care services

• Speciality training for respiratory nursing.

Their ultimate aim was to ensure the group attained knowledge and skills which would be transferable to their local clinical setting and therefore affording positive outcomes on respiratory care management in Hong Kong.

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