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While PPPs are intended to bridge the public and private sectors, interviewees are worried
that PPPs may backfire and instead intensify the fragmentation of care when there
is already inadequate coordination and communication between the two sectors. A few
problems were identified, including that many existing PPPs in Hong Kong focus on specialist
services, which could contribute to the imbalance of care towards specialist care.

Stakeholders’ voices

There is actually no direct flow of patients between the
two (public and private sectors), or no direct, convenient
way of using the services between the two sectors.

Academic

I think it’s (the concept of PPP) much more complicated.
The Hospital Authority also provides complication
screening programmes for diabetes, hypertension, mild
cognitive impairment, as well as occupational therapy,
physiotherapy, etc. If you’re going to fragment them and
put some parts into the private sector, will that cause
challenges to the patients? Would they have issues of
coordinating? Who’s going to coordinate? I think you’re
(the Government) creating more problems.

Academic

There are long waiting times for people requiring joint
replacement surgeries [in Hong Kong], but I haven’t
seen any successful PPPs in reducing the waiting time
because it is too expensive… The current PPP is not
quite working because we have focused primarily on
specialist service in designing the programmes.
Professional body representative

Although the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme (EHCVS) is considered as convenient to
use, the model of which is adopted to the proposed Scheme, criticisms towards the EHCVS
were raised. Its limitations in attracting the elderly to take up preventive care and health
promotion, together with its role in further fragmentation of care due to the doctor-shopping
phenomenon, led some interviewees to dismiss the EHCVS as ineffective. The Government
should be aware of the lack in specificity of this programme, particularly the
services targeted, and improve the design of similar schemes in the future.

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