Hong Kong public hospital patients must wait up to two and a half years to see a specialist, new data reveals

Some public hospital patients face waits of 21/2 years to see a specialist, Hospital Authority data revealed on Thursday, despite a scheme to refer patients to doctors in different parts of the city that has helped 4,800 patients.

The long wait is a result of increased demand for specialist outpatient clinics from the city's ageing population, with the number of patients seen rising 4.4 per cent over three years to a total of 7.2 million in 2014/15.

For departments with high demand, such as orthopaedics and traumatology, the median waiting time was 60 weeks. But for the 10 per cent who faced the longest waits - referred to as the 90th percentile - the waiting period was 133 weeks. The median in 2012/13 was 52 weeks, with 107 weeks for the 90th percentile, while in 2013/14 the figures were 55 and 124 weeks respectively.

"There is an increasing demand for the orthopaedics and traumatology services due to the ageing population," said Dr Leung Pak-yin, chief executive of the authority. "This will continue to be a challenge."

The data, presented to an authority board meeting yesterday, showed shorter waiting times for many patients since the introduction in March of a system under which patients can be referred between the seven regional groups of hospitals.

For ear, nose and throat services, the top waiting time in Kowloon East had been up to 151 weeks, which has been reduced to 57 weeks since the system was introduced. But Leung said not all patients could benefit.