A new index will be introduced by the Hospital Authority to measure the staffing needs of individual hospitals and departments, according to a package of emergency measures aimed at tackling the record high turnover in public doctors.
It is the first time that a scientific formula - which the authority says will be transparent to all - will be used to work out staffing situations so medical graduates hired each July can be fairly deployed.
The authority will officially present its package of measures for retaining doctors at a meeting tonight with union representatives. Doctors have threatened to take industrial action if the authority fails to solve the staffing crisis. Some hospitals have a 10 to 20 per cent shortfall in some areas, with departments of medicine most seriously hit.
However, the chance of a settlement being reached is believed to be slim, as the two main doctors' unions object to the package.
The authority, which has been criticised for lacking a long-term manpower plan, has pledged to review staffing and workloads and release the information regularly on its website.
The 'relative need index' will be introduced to reflect doctor turnover, vacancies and demand for new services. The authority will deploy fresh medical graduates to individual hospitals according to the index. It will hire more than 300 doctors from the city's two medical schools this year.
