Kai Tak Hospital begins phased operations Monday with 350 daily clinic quotas
Kai Tak Hospital opens its Family Medicine Integrated Centre on Monday, offering 350 daily consultation quotas. The relocation of services from Queen Elizabeth Hospital will proceed in stages through early 2027, with the hospital expected to serve 1.8 million people upon full completion in 2028.
Kai Tak Hospital will begin phased operations on Monday (5 Oct), with the Family Medicine Integrated Centre in the Specialist Outpatient Block the first to take patients. About 350 family medicine consultation quotas will be available daily under the current arrangement.
Chief executive Eric Cheung said the project is Hong Kong's largest hospital relocation to date. Quotas have been carefully controlled to minimise teething problems and ensure safe, smooth operation.
Some specialist outpatient services from Queen Elizabeth Hospital will begin relocating later this month. Follow-up cases in surgery, neurosurgery and clinical oncology will move from 26 October, with medical and family medicine clinics to follow on 12 November.
A new specialist outpatient administration office will handle all bookings in one place, cutting the process to about 15 minutes — half the previous time. The hospital also features smart healthcare facilities including a blood-taking station in the specialist outpatient block lobby, the first in a public hospital to use an automated blood sample transport system. After a phlebotomist scans the patient's follow-up slip, the system dispenses a labelled bottle and sends the sealed tube to the pathology department, a hands-free process taking about six minutes — 40 per cent faster than before.
Spanning two floors and about 2,000 square metres, the hospital's pharmacy will be the city's largest, with 21 collection counters and an automated dispensing system handling up to 3,200 prescriptions a day, targeting an average dispensing time of 30 minutes. Freed-up staff will be redeployed to explain medications to patients, with full operation expected in early 2027.
Chow Po-ling, cluster general manager of the Kowloon Central Cluster at the Hospital Authority, said about 300 staff would be on duty on opening day, including healthcare workers from Queen Elizabeth Hospital and personnel from other clinical and support departments. She said she was confident staffing would be sufficient to meet demand.
The hospital reminded patients that 10 bus routes and six minibus routes serve the site, with other public transport nearby. Patients who go to Queen Elizabeth Hospital by mistake will be seen on the spot to avoid a return trip. As the largest public hospital in Hong Kong and the flagship facility of the Kowloon Central Cluster, Kai Tak Hospital is expected to serve a population of 1.8 million with 2,400 beds once relocation is completed in 2028.