The public queue is too long — what are the other options? Nine public-private partnership schemes, the limits of the health care vouchers, and the triage rules

TL;DR The "three years" you saw in the news is not your waiting time. In its own frequently asked questions on specialist outpatient waiting times, the Hospital Authority writes the same sentence in both Chinese and English: 「公布的輪候時間並不等同個別病人的實際輪候時間。」 — the published waiting time is not the same as an individual patient's actual waiting time. Your date is set by triage, not by your place in a queue or by a published figure. The greatest misconception is that the queue runs first come, first served. It does not — two published Hospital Authority documents say the opposite. The accident and emergency version reads: 「醫院管理局轄下急症室均實施分流制度，按照病人病情的輕重緩急而定治理的先後次序，而非按先到先得的方法。」 — every accident and emergency department under the Hospital Authority operates a triage system, treating patients in order of clinical urgency rather than first come, first served. Specialist outpatient appointments are likewise set on clinical grounds after a nurse screens the case and a specialist reviews the referral letter and any investigation reports. Triage has three tiers: urgent (priority 1), semi-urgent (priority 2) and stable (routine). A second misconception: two weeks and eight weeks are not a promise to you personally; they are a target set on a median. The header of every one of the nine pages of the Hospital Authority's Specialist Outpatient Stable New Case Waiting Time reads: 「醫管局的目標是把緊急及半緊急新症的輪候時間中位數，分別維持在兩個星期和八個星期之內。」 — setting the target on the median waiting times of urgent and semi-urgent new cases. A target set on a median means half of people are inside that figure and half are outside it, and both satisfy the target. Accident and emergency has five categories, of which the first three have published service targets and the fourth and fifth do not. The most practically useful piece of official text sits on a page hardly anyone links to — the Hospital Authority's "Specialist Outpatient Triage Arrangements" reads: 「若病人的狀況在輪候期間出現惡化，病人可聯絡有關的專科門診診所，要求提早約見醫生，若病情緊急，病人亦可到急症室求診。」 — that where a patient's condition deteriorates while waiting, they may contact the specialist outpatient clinic concerned and ask for an earlier appointment, and where the condition is urgent they may also attend an accident and emergency department. As for "the other options", the reality differs from what many imagine: there are nine public-private partnership (PPP) schemes, not four, and entry to every one of them is by the organisation selecting people — three schemes' pages state in terms 「病人毋須／無需自行申請」 (patients need not apply themselves), and the bowel partnership and Project Bright Vision send invitation letters in batches by how long a patient has already waited — though Project Bright Vision's "how long you have waited" is about ordinary waiting cases only, the same frequently asked questions stating that urgent or pre-operative cases need not wait for such a letter and that the Hospital Authority will arrange surgery for them as soon as possible; the Greater Bay Area pilot scheme takes only 「已預約醫管局指定專科門診或家庭醫學門診覆診的病人」 — patients who already have an appointment at a designated Hospital Authority specialist or family medicine clinic — which is to say it moves a follow-up you already have, rather than shortening a new case wait; and Elderly Health Care Vouchers cannot be used for day surgical procedures, the official questions and answers naming cataract surgery and endoscopy in terms — exactly two of the things many readers are waiting for. Separately, public dermatology is not in the Hospital Authority but in the Department of Health: new dermatology appointments there run from December 2027 to February 2029 (the document self-noting 「實際約期的情況或有不同」, that the actual appointment date may differ, updated to 30 June 2026), but the same service triages — the government stated in a written reply to the 2024-25 estimates of expenditure that in 2022 and 2023 all new cases of severe skin disease were seen within 8 weeks in accordance with the service pledge. This article will not tell you whether your case counts as urgent, and will not give a list of "go to accident and emergency if you have these symptoms" — triage is a judgment made by triage nurses and specialists, and the official documents cited here publish no criteria for the public to judge by. Every fee and waiting figure is given with its source page's own date, and what a doctor decides is left to a doctor.

#Whose time is "the published waiting time"?

The Hospital Authority has answered this itself, and the answer is: not yours.

Question 3 of the Hospital Authority's "Specialist Outpatient Waiting Time — Frequently Asked Questions" (the page self-noted 「(2020年11月6日更新)」) states: the published waiting time is not the same as an individual patient's actual waiting time; a patient's actual waiting time is arranged according to the urgency of their condition after healthcare staff have screened and reviewed the referral [Note 1]. The English version of the same page says the same thing.

In one sentence: the published figure is a statistic describing a group of patients already seen; your appointment is a clinical decision, made only after somebody has read your referral letter. Between the two there is no formula you can apply to yourself.

That sentence is the starting point for everything else in this article. If you remember one thing, remember it.

⚠️ If you have just been given a referral letter, looked up the waiting time, and started wondering whether to skip the wait and go private: the information you have in hand is not enough to answer your own question — because the triage has not been done.

#Three figures constantly treated as one: the median, the 90th percentile, and "longest" — how far apart are they?

What the Hospital Authority publishes is a median and a 90th percentile; it labels the 90th percentile "longest" in its tables, and that label is itself the source of the confusion.

Question 1 of the same frequently asked questions sets out item by item what it publishes: eight specialties (the Chinese version's names being ear, nose and throat; gynaecology; medicine; ophthalmology; orthopaedics; paediatrics; psychiatry; and surgery), three triage categories, and three kinds of waiting time — the median for urgent cases, the median for semi-urgent cases, and the median and the 「第90百分值數(最長)」 for stable cases [Note 2]. That itemised list contains no "average waiting time" statistic; nor is there such a field in the JSON or the PDF of the same dataset. (In passing: the same specialty is called 「骨科」 in the Chinese frequently asked questions and 「矯形及創傷外科 (骨科)」 in the clinic menu of the service guide, both being the Hospital Authority's own wording.)

The two documents word the "longest" label differently: question 1 of the frequently asked questions writes 「第90百分值數(最長)」, while note (1) of the Specialist Outpatient Stable New Case Waiting Time PDF writes 「最長(第90個百分位數)輪候時間，是指有90%的新症可以在早於顯示的輪候時間內就診。」 — that the longest (90th percentile) waiting time means 90% of new cases can be seen within a waiting time shorter than that shown.

Question 2 explains the difference between the two figures itself: the median waiting time for stable cases represents the waiting time of half of those patients being within the figure shown; while the 90th percentile represents the longest waiting time [Note 2].

In other words: the median is "half of people are faster than this"; the 90th percentile is "nine in ten are faster than this". So for the same cluster and the same specialty you will see two widely separated figures, both true, answering different questions.

And there is a third layer: the Hospital Authority publishes by cluster, not by clinic. The unit of this dataset is specialty by cluster; there is no figure for any individual clinic, and nothing anywhere saying which clinic the longest figure belongs to.

Two comparisons off that table show how large the gaps are. Within one cluster: the Kowloon Central median for stable new cases in medicine is 65 weeks and the 90th percentile 98 weeks, 33 weeks apart. Between clusters: on the same median for stable new cases in medicine, Kowloon Central is 65 weeks and Hong Kong East 29 weeks, 36 weeks apart. All of those are figures from the same dataset and the same statistical period (1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026).

Three further points that the source states and readers easily miss:

• The statistical period is a rolling 12 months, 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026, updated quarterly (question 5 of the frequently asked questions). It is not a snapshot of the first quarter of 2026.
• Cases not yet triaged are excluded. The Hospital Authority's specialty pages carry the footnote 「不包括有待分流的其他個案。」
• This data still uses the old division into seven clusters. The Hospital Authority's own footnote states: 「本頁資料按舊有醫院聯網界線劃分。港島東醫院聯網和港島西醫院聯網已於2026年4月1日起，正式合併為香港島醫院聯網，相關資料將於稍後作出更新。」 That is, administratively there are six clusters and statistically still seven.

The full grid of eight specialties by seven clusters, and the whole set of public fees effective from 1 January 2026, are set out cell by cell in our other article on public hospital fees and waiting times from 2026, and are not repeated here.

⚠️ If the word "longest" makes you think it is your own upper bound: in this table "longest" is a statistic, not a promise, and not any individual patient's actual maximum.

#How is triage done? Who decides your appointment?

Nurses and specialists decide it, from your referral letter and investigation reports, not from your place in the queue.

The Hospital Authority's "Specialist Outpatient Triage Arrangements" page runs to only a few sentences in all [Note 3]: healthcare staff decide the order of priority for specialist outpatient attendance according to the patient's clinical condition; new referrals are first screened by a nurse and then reviewed by a specialist against the patient's referral letter and investigation reports, and classified on clinical grounds into three triage categories — urgent (priority 1), semi-urgent (priority 2) and stable (routine); and for patients classified as urgent and semi-urgent, healthcare staff will as far as possible arrange for them to be seen within two weeks and eight weeks respectively.

Which is to say: triage has three tiers, the two figures of two weeks and eight weeks correspond to urgent and semi-urgent, and stable cases have no corresponding time commitment. Note that the Hospital Authority's own wording is 「盡量安排」 — arrange as far as possible — not "guarantee".

#That two weeks and eight weeks is a target set on a median

This is the sentence in the whole article most easily read as a personal promise, and the Hospital Authority makes it plain in another document. The Hospital Authority's Specialist Outpatient Stable New Case Waiting Time is a nine-page PDF, and the header of every page repeats the same passage [Note 4]: specialist outpatient clinics operate a triage system, under which new referrals are usually screened first by a nurse and then reviewed by the relevant specialist, and classified as urgent, semi-urgent or stable; and the Hospital Authority's target is to maintain the median waiting times of urgent and semi-urgent new cases within two weeks and eight weeks respectively.

The English version of the same document says the same thing: the target is set on a median, not on every patient.

In one sentence: a median is "half of people are inside this figure". If a cluster's median for urgent new cases is exactly two weeks, then about half of urgent new cases waited more than two weeks — and the target is still met. This is not hair-splitting: the sentence at the head of this article, that the published waiting time is not the same as an individual patient's actual waiting time, and this one are two sides of the same thing. A statistical target does not turn into the date in your hand.

So is the target actually met? Taking medicine as an example, the same open data answers it. Over the statistical period 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026, the median waiting times for urgent new cases in medicine across the seven clusters were "less than 1 week" (Hong Kong West) or "1 week" (the other six); and the medians for semi-urgent new cases were 4 weeks (Hong Kong West), 5 weeks (Kowloon East) and 6 weeks (the other five). All seven clusters are inside the two weeks and eight weeks, and in medicine that target is met. Over the same period, the median for stable new cases in the same specialty was 27 to 65 weeks (see the table in the previous section).

⚠️ Two things hold at once, and they do not contradict each other: the medians for urgent and semi-urgent cases are indeed inside the target; and stable cases wait one to two years. The difference is not whether the Hospital Authority is doing well, but which tier you were put in — and that tier is not your choice. So wherever this article mentions the two weeks and eight weeks, it means a target set on the medians of urgent and semi-urgent cases, not a time limit for any individual patient, and not something that applies to stable cases at all.

There is a substantive difference between the Chinese and English versions here worth knowing, because the two say different things. In question 6 of the same frequently asked questions, the English version writes 「will be arranged to have the consultation within 2 weeks and 8 weeks respectively as far as possible」 — a statement about effort. The Chinese version writes: 「大部分緊急和半緊急個案均可在兩星期及八星期內就診」 — that most such cases can in fact be seen within those periods [Note 5].

The Chinese is a statement of fact, that most such cases are managed; the English is a statement about effort. They are not the same, and both are reproduced at [Note 5]. In Hong Kong government and Hospital Authority documents, the Chinese version is the primary record.

Can a triage category be changed? Neither "Specialist Outpatient Triage Arrangements" nor the frequently asked questions describes a procedure for requesting re-triage, and neither says a patient may not ask. But the last paragraph of "Specialist Outpatient Triage Arrangements" does set out a route for when a condition deteriorates, and it tells you to contact the clinic yourself. So if you feel your condition is worse than when you joined the queue, do not stay silent because you have heard the category cannot be changed — the official text itself tells you to telephone. Whether the category then changes is something neither official document says.

⚠️ If you have just seen a family doctor and hold a referral letter but have not yet made the appointment: that referral letter and the investigation reports you have are exactly what the two healthcare staff triaging will read — the Hospital Authority's Chinese version states in terms that the specialist reviews 「病人的轉介信及檢查報告」 (the patient's referral letter and investigation reports), a sentence the English version does not have.

#If your condition worsens while waiting, what has officialdom written that you can do?

This is the most directly actionable text in the whole article; the Hospital Authority wrote it, it is one sentence, and it sits on a page that is very hard to find.

The last paragraph of "Specialist Outpatient Triage Arrangements" states: where a patient's condition deteriorates while waiting, the patient may contact the specialist outpatient clinic concerned and ask for an earlier appointment, and where the condition is urgent the patient may also attend an accident and emergency department; healthcare staff will make arrangements as needed [Note 3].

In one sentence: condition worsens → telephone the specialist outpatient clinic and ask to be brought forward; condition urgent → go to accident and emergency. The place to telephone is the specialist outpatient clinic you are queueing at, not the clinic that referred you, and not Hospital Authority head office.

The Hospital Authority's "Specialist Outpatient Service" guide has a sentence to similar effect: a patient who develops an emergency condition while waiting for specialist outpatient services should attend the nearest accident and emergency department at once [Note 6].

The same frequently asked questions carries a second thing you can do, at question 4: through what channel can a patient obtain waiting time information for a specialty that is not published? — when making a specialist appointment, a patient may ask clinic staff for the estimated waiting time of the specialty concerned [Note 2].

Which is to say: when you hand in your referral letter, you can ask the staff at the counter for that estimate. In the Hospital Authority's published specialist outpatient documents, that is the only provision giving a route to a waiting estimate belonging to an individual patient — everything else is a statistic by cluster.

Who that question serves can be counted out. The clinic menu of the Hospital Authority's "Specialist Outpatient Service" guide lists fifteen specialties: anaesthesiology; cardiothoracic surgery; clinical oncology; dentistry; ear, nose and throat; ophthalmology; gynaecology; medicine; neurosurgery; obstetrics; orthopaedics and traumatology; paediatrics; palliative medicine; psychiatry; and surgery. Eight of them have published waiting figures. Fifteen less eight leaves seven specialties with no published waiting figure: anaesthesiology, cardiothoracic surgery, clinical oncology, dentistry, neurosurgery, obstetrics and palliative medicine. The one most easily missed among those seven is dentistry — dental clinics are on the Hospital Authority's menu, but not in the waiting dataset. No figure does not mean a hidden figure; question 4 is officialdom telling you what to do instead.

⚠️ If you are already in the queue and have felt worse lately: you do not have to wait for your next appointment to say so. That text asks you to prove nothing; what it says is that you may contact the clinic and ask for an earlier appointment.

#Accident and emergency runs by different rules from specialist outpatients — where do they differ?

The most important difference: the order at accident and emergency is by condition, not by registration time — and that sentence is written on the Hospital Authority's own Chinese page.

The Hospital Authority's accident and emergency service page states [Note 7]: all accident and emergency departments operate a triage system under which, when a patient registers, a triage nurse classifies them according to whether they need critical, emergency, urgent, semi-urgent or non-urgent treatment; and the order in which patients are treated depends on their condition rather than on their registration time. That last sentence has no counterpart in the English version. And the "triage system" section of the same page puts it more plainly still: every accident and emergency department under the Hospital Authority operates a triage system, treating patients in order of clinical urgency rather than first come, first served [Note 7].

Those two sentences are the most direct official text this article can cite against the "first come, first served" misconception.

The same page says two accompanying things [Note 7]: patients triaged as critical need not wait and are treated by healthcare staff immediately; while some non-urgent patients may have to wait a long time. And one piece of guidance aimed at whether to attend at all: patients whose condition is not urgent should seek care at a public or private clinic.

What is not on that table really is not there. The Hospital Authority publishes service targets up to category 3 only; the fourth and fifth have no published waiting commitment at all. The ranges circulating in popular accounts, such as "non-urgent waits 4 to 8 hours", come from no published Hospital Authority document. Likewise, a list of "these symptoms mean urgent" will not appear in this article — the category is set by a triage nurse from your condition at the time, not by a reader matching themselves to a description, and the Hospital Authority publishes no criteria for the public to judge by.

#Accident and emergency waiting figures, by contrast, are published hospital by hospital — but they have to be read with the Hospital Authority's own qualification

Here is an arrangement that runs the opposite way from specialist outpatients: accident and emergency waiting times are published by hospital, while specialist outpatients are published by cluster only. The Hospital Authority has a real-time data feed hospital by hospital covering the 18 public hospitals with an accident and emergency department. Each hospital has six fields: one time value and one "is a patient of this category being treated" indicator each for category 1 (critical) and category 2 (emergency), plus two values for category 3 (urgent) and two for categories IV and V (semi-urgent and non-urgent).

The official definitions of those fields are published by the Hospital Authority, and in Chinese. Under the same open data catalogue the Hospital Authority issues a Data Dictionary — Accident and Emergency Waiting Time, saying what each field is. Three points matter most to a reader:

• The dictionary describes t3p50 as 「分流類別 III（緊急）病人的預計急症室等候時間。一半輪候中的病人能在該時間內就診。」 and t3p95 as 「大部份輪候中的病人能在該時間內就診。」 All six field descriptions use the word 「預計」 — estimated — throughout, and are not a statistic of waiting that has already happened.
• For the two category IV and V values, the dictionary's remarks column states that they are 「向上捨入至最接近的0.5 小時」 — rounded up to the nearest half-hour. That is, a 0.5 hours on the table can be anything from zero to half an hour; and comparisons of the "how many times longer" kind are magnified at the low end by that rounding.
• The permitted values for t1wt and t2wt are, per the dictionary, either 「多名病人正在搶救中」 or a number of minutes; the accompanying indicator field's permitted values are 「不適用／是／否」, and the dictionary notes that 「不適用是指急症室正有多名病人正在搶救中」. So those words appearing on the table are a registered normal value, not a fault.

On the same set of figures, the Hospital Authority puts a stronger qualification on its own accident and emergency waiting time web page, to the same effect as the sentence about specialist outpatient statistics at the head of this article [Note 8]: the figures below are the longest waiting times of other patients over the past several hours and are for reference only, and are not the currently estimated waiting time; accident and emergency departments must attend to accident casualties and critically ill patients, and so cannot give an accurate estimated waiting time.

⚠️ Both are the Hospital Authority's own documents, but they describe the same set of fields inconsistently: the dictionary calls them 「預計等候時間」 (estimated waiting time), and the web page qualification says they are 「並非現時預計等候時間」 (not the currently estimated waiting time). Both formulations are reproduced at [Note 8], and the Hospital Authority has not said anywhere which governs. The conclusion a reader can use is the same either way: these figures are a reference shape, not an answer to how long you will wait.

Looking at the shape works like this. Taking the moment the feed self-notes as 「2026年8月2日 下午9時30分」 as an example, across the 18 hospitals t3p50 for category 3 (urgent) ran from 11 minutes to 47 minutes, and t45p50 for categories IV and V from 0.5 hours to 5 hours; each hospital's p95 field at the same moment is another, larger set of figures, not to be mixed in with that range; and at the same moment the category I and II fields for United Christian Hospital showed not a number but 「多名病人正在搶救中」. Urgent counted in minutes, and semi-urgent and non-urgent in hours — that is the safest reading. As for "how many times longer", remember the second point above: the 0.5 hours at the low end is a rounded grid value, not a precise denominator. To use it, look at the figures at the moment you need them.

(The complete 18 rows for that moment will not disappear: the historical archive API of the Hong Kong government's open data platform preserves the file for that same moment permanently; see the permanent link in "Sources" at the end. The live feed changes every few minutes, but that file does not.)

#A refund arrangement few people know about

The accident and emergency page states [Note 7]: triage is an important part of the accident and emergency service; and a patient who leaves the accident and emergency department after triage but before seeing a doctor may apply for a refund through "HA Go" or at the accident and emergency registration counter within 24 hours of registering; an eligible person may apply to have 350 dollars refunded, and a non-eligible person 1,850 dollars.

The Hospital Authority's accident and emergency charge from 1 January 2026 is 400 dollars per attendance for eligible persons (patients triaged as category I critical and category II emergency are exempt from payment), and 2,100 dollars per attendance for non-eligible persons. Doing the arithmetic: an eligible person pays 400 dollars, leaves after triage without seeing a doctor, and can apply for a 350-dollar refund, bearing 50 dollars in fact; a non-eligible person pays 2,100 dollars and is refunded 1,850, bearing 250 dollars. That difference corresponds to the triage service itself. Note that the 24-hour limit and the application channel are conditions of the refund.

⚠️ If you are thinking of going to accident and emergency because you cannot get a specialist outpatient appointment: the order there is by condition, not by how anxious you were when you went; and the Hospital Authority itself writes that a condition that is not urgent should go to a public or private clinic.

#What do you actually have to hand in to get into a public specialist outpatient clinic? And can you pick a cluster with a shorter wait?

Three things, one of which has a three-month limit; and you can pick the cluster, but the Chinese version writes down a cost of switching clusters after your first attendance that the English version does not mention.

The Hospital Authority's "Specialist Outpatient Service" guide states that a patient must bring the following documents and information to the specialist outpatient clinic to make a new case appointment: a Hong Kong identity card (or valid identification document), a doctor's referral letter issued by a locally registered doctor within the past three months, and proof of address; and adds a further sentence: patients should bring identification when attending, together with any investigation reports and X-ray films [Note 6].

Which is to say, the referral letter must have been issued within the past three months. Once it has expired, a new one has to be obtained. That item is on the Hospital Authority's "Specialist Outpatient Service" guide (Content_ID=10053), and not on any other page.

As for choosing a cluster, the Hospital Authority's waiting time page states [Note 9]: the Hospital Authority displays the latest waiting time information on its website and at specialist outpatient clinics, and patients may choose for themselves which cluster to book a new specialist outpatient case in; but the Hospital Authority reminds patients that choosing a specialist outpatient clinic in the cluster of their district of residence makes follow-up and the use of community support services more convenient; and that when arranging specialist outpatient appointments, healthcare staff also consider the patient's condition and the services needed, and may suggest and arrange for the patient to attend a specialist outpatient clinic near their home.

That last sentence is easily skipped, and it changes the meaning of the whole passage: choosing a cluster is not purely your decision.

And the statement that you may choose your own cluster is itself bounded. The second paragraph of question 6 of the frequently asked questions opens by saying who it applies to — for stable cases, a patient may choose for themselves which cluster to book a new specialist outpatient case in [Note 5]. That is: the frequently asked questions place that choice under the heading of stable cases. What corresponds to urgent and semi-urgent cases in the same question is the two weeks and eight weeks arrangement above, not a choice of cluster.

Next, the cost of switching to another cluster for follow-up after the first attendance is written plainly only in the Chinese version. The Chinese original of question 8: a patient may ask their doctor about receiving specialist services in another cluster, and after obtaining a doctor's referral letter, may book the service at a clinic in that district and join the queue afresh [Note 5].

The English version of the same question mentions "the waiting arrangement", but does not say that the arrangement is to queue afresh; it tells you to telephone the clinic to ask. The Chinese version's 「重新輪候」 states the outcome outright. That difference is worth knowing: read only the English and you learn that there is a waiting arrangement to ask about, but not that the arrangement is to start from the beginning.

Two further administrative details, stated by the source itself:

• The mobile app can book 12 specialties (anaesthesiology (pain clinic), cardiothoracic surgery, clinical oncology, ear, nose and throat, ophthalmology, gynaecology, medicine, neurosurgery, obstetrics, orthopaedics and traumatology, paediatrics, and surgery). Note that psychiatry is not among those 12, although psychiatry is one of the eight specialties with published waiting times. "Has a published waiting time" and "can be booked in the app" are two different lists, and neither is a subset of the other.
• General outpatient clinics have been renamed. The Hospital Authority's page reads: 「醫院管理局轄下普通科門診診所及社區健康中心已由2025 年10 月11 日起分別命名為「家庭醫學診所」及「家庭醫學綜合中心」。」 Patients with episodic illness can use the telephone appointment system or "HA Go" to 「預約未來24小時的診症時間」 — book a consultation slot in the next 24 hours — which is an entirely different thing from the specialist outpatient queue.

⚠️ If your referral letter has been sitting for a while, or if you are planning to queue in another district to be seen sooner: for the first, count the days since it was issued against the three months; for the second, know that the Chinese version says 「重新輪候」 — queue afresh — for a change of cluster after the first attendance.

#Public is not only the Hospital Authority — how do you get into the Department of Health's own clinics?

Public is not only the Hospital Authority. The Department of Health has specialist clinics of its own, a fee table of its own and referral rules of its own — and within one service, the entry rules of its two legs are exact opposites.

The Department of Health's Social Hygiene Service has two kinds of clinic, described in its own words as: the Social Hygiene Service comprises social hygiene clinics and dermatology clinics, responsible for the treatment, care, prevention and control of sexually transmitted infections and skin diseases.

It looks like one service, but the entry rules differ a great deal:

Social hygiene clinics — the Department of Health's clinic list page states: social hygiene clinics under the Department of Health provide examination, treatment and counselling for sexually transmitted infections, with all information kept entirely confidential, and free of charge for eligible persons, with no appointment and no doctor's letter of introduction required [Note 10].

Dermatology clinics — another page on the same website (self-dated 「二〇二五年六月二日」) says in four lines [Note 10]: fees are charged according to specialist outpatient fees; all new cases require a doctor's letter of introduction; all information is strictly confidential; and all new and old cases require an appointment — for a new case appointment, bring identification and a referral letter issued by a Hong Kong registered western medicine practitioner and attend the clinic in person, or send them by post to the designated clinic; and appointment and rescheduling applications submitted through GovHK are also accepted.

That remarks passage is the most useful text on the whole page, because it sets out three routes to an appointment. In person at the clinic; by post to a designated clinic; or online through GovHK. All three require the referral letter and identification.

In one sentence: the sexually transmitted infection side is free (for eligible persons), needs no appointment and no referral letter; the dermatology side charges eligible persons 250 dollars, needs a referral letter and needs an appointment, with three routes to making one. Same department, same service, in some cases the same clinic, and opposite entry models.

⚠️ Before reading the table below, one thing has to be known: the Department of Health's page is not a two-column table but two separate tables. (A) is for eligible persons and (B) for non-eligible persons, each running from (a) to (g), with items corresponding one to one but fees entirely independent. The table below sets the two side by side, copied item by item, with no cell left empty.

The gap between eligible and non-eligible persons is of an entirely different order on different items. The attendance fee is 250 dollars against 850 (3.4 times); an injection and dressing is 50 against 250 (5 times); and an advanced pathology test is 200 against 16,100 — more than 80 times. That is not a detail: a non-eligible person arranged to have one advanced pathology test pays more for that item alone than for eighteen attendances. Doing the arithmetic: an eligible person having one dermatology attendance plus one advanced pathology test pays 250 + 200 = 450 dollars; a non-eligible person having the same two pays 850 + 16,100 = 16,950 dollars, that is 37.7 times as much. Both sets come from the same fee table with the same effective date.

That table has three notes, not two, and the one most often missed is a scope note [Note 11]: printed under section (A) are 「上述(a)、(e)、(f)及(g)項的收費不適用於由九龍灣綜合治療中心及油麻地綜合治療中心提供的與性病有關的檢查或治療」, 「上述(a)項的收費不包括有關的配藥、放射造影服務及化驗費用」 and 「上述(e)項的收費不包括自費藥物」; under section (B) the latter two are printed and the first is not. What the first does in practice is this: examinations or treatment related to sexually transmitted infection at those two integrated treatment centres are not charged under this table.

The Department of Health also explained why the prices are what they are: it announced on 31 October 2025 that, 「為配合政府2026年1月1日實施的公營醫療收費改革」 — the fees of some public services at its clinics would be adjusted from 1 January 2026.

A comparison: a Department of Health dermatology clinic attendance at 250 dollars and a Hospital Authority specialist clinic attendance at 250 dollars (effective 1 January 2026) are the same price point; but they are two services of two different organisations, and the fee tables are two different documents. As for chest clinics, both sections are free — that is, on that item eligible and non-eligible persons pay the same.

#The Department of Health's dermatology new case appointment dates — with the document's own qualification, and the government's own published triage pledge

⚠️ The table below has to be read with two things, and neither can be omitted.

First, the document's own qualification. What the Department of Health publishes is the month appointments are currently running to, not how long you will wait, and it states for itself: updated as at 30 June 2026, and the actual appointment date may differ [Note 12].

Second, that table is not about severe cases. The government's written reply at the Legislative Council on the 2024-25 estimates of expenditure (reply reference HHB094, Health Bureau) states [Note 13]: the Social Hygiene Service has kept systematic statistics of clinic case waiting times since quarter 4 of 2021; in 2022 and 2023, all new cases of severe skin disease were seen within 8 weeks in accordance with the service pledge, with median waiting times of 2.7 and 2.9 weeks respectively; while for other stable new cases the median waiting times were 90 and 93 weeks, and the overall longest waiting times 203 and 183 weeks.

⚠️ The same reply also has a sentence about referral, but its scope is narrower than the one above and the two cannot be used together. The passage quoted above is part (one) of the reply, and speaks of all new cases of severe skin disease, covering the whole dermatology service. The referral sentence is in part (four), and the subject of part (four) throughout is eczema patients: eczema is mostly mild and is chiefly managed by primary care doctors; while for patients whose condition is more severe or urgent, doctors may refer the case to the dermatology specialist outpatient clinics under the Department of Health's Social Hygiene Service [Note 13].

That is, the sentence that a doctor may refer into the service is, in that reply, a statement about eczema; the reply writes no such sentence about other skin diseases. Whereas the sentence that all new cases of severe skin disease are seen within 8 weeks is about dermatology as a whole.

In other words: the Department of Health's Social Hygiene Service has triage and a service pledge of its own, and the medians on the severe skin disease line in 2022 and 2023 were 2.7 and 2.9 weeks; the months in the table below correspond to the other stable new cases line. Which line you are on is judged by your doctor, not by you and not by the table below. (The Hospital Authority's two weeks and eight weeks triage pledge is an arrangement of Hospital Authority specialist outpatient clinics; it is neither the same document nor the same organisation as what is discussed here, and cannot be carried across.)

Those months have not been converted into weeks or months above: converting would need an assumption the document does not supply. The full discussion of dermatological drugs, subsidies and referral is in our article on eczema.

⚠️ If you assume that public dermatology means the Hospital Authority and cannot find dermatology waiting figures on its website: you cannot find them not because they are hidden, but because this service is not in that dataset. And at the same time: if a skin problem has suddenly worsened, what to look at is not the table above but your own doctor.

#Public-private partnership (PPP) schemes: nine of them, and you cannot apply

A PPP is not a route you can walk into yourself; it is a letter that may be sent to you — and several of the schemes decide which letter to send by how long you have already waited.

The Hospital Authority's public-private partnership website lists nine schemes in all. The "four big PPPs" that circulate are an incomplete list, and the ones missing include precisely the two most directly relevant to waiting too long for a specialist appointment or an investigation.

#What "no need to apply yourself" means

That sentence is not a politeness but how the schemes operate, and three of the nine write it out word for word [Note 14]: the radiological investigation introduction page — 「醫管局的醫生會在病人應診時邀請病人參與計劃，並進行即場登記。病人毋須自行申請。」; the colon assessment introduction page — 「計劃辦事處會按病人登記輪候大腸鏡檢查的日期及臨床情況決定優先次序，分批發出邀請信，病人無需自行申請。」; and the Cataract Surgeries Programme frequently asked questions — 「病人毋須自行申請。醫管局會由輪候時間最長的個案開始，分批發信邀請符合資格人士申請參加此計劃。」

⚠️ But "letters go first to those who have waited longest" covers ordinary waiting cases only, not urgent or pre-operative cases — and a reader who does not know that will draw the opposite conclusion. The eligibility passage of the Cataract Surgeries Programme's frequently asked questions adds a parenthesis immediately after 「一般輪候個案」: 「至於緊急或前期個案，因此類病人需得到優先處理，醫管局會盡快為他們安排手術，而不用他們自行安排約見私家醫生以接受治療」 [Note 14] — that urgent or pre-operative cases need priority handling, and the Hospital Authority will arrange surgery for them as soon as possible without their having to arrange a private appointment themselves. Which is to say that if your cataract case is not an ordinary waiting case, not receiving that letter is not because you have not waited long enough but because the scheme is not for you; the official text says the Hospital Authority will arrange surgery for you directly as soon as possible. Not receiving an invitation letter and not being followed up are two different things.

The other six do not use that phrase, but their entry is equally at the organisation's initiative — three by referral from a designated Hospital Authority department, two by a Hospital Authority invitation that the patient may then 「自由選擇參加」, and one by the Hospital Authority defining a pool of patients treated for at least 12 months. Not one of the schemes has a door marked "apply here".

In one sentence: "join a PPP" is not an answer to "I have waited too long, what do I do"; it is a description of what may happen to you if you have waited long enough.

⚠️ But there is one thing you have to do yourself once the letter arrives, and losing out if you do not. The colon assessment introduction page adds, immediately after 「病人無需自行申請」: an invited patient must attend a designated Hospital Authority clinic for assessment and to submit an application form, and must at the same time register for the eHealth system, so that the Hospital Authority and the private doctor can share medical records and reports [Note 14].

Which is to say: the letter is theirs, the follow-through is yours. You genuinely cannot move yourself up the queue, but if you receive the letter and do not attend the assessment and submit the form, you do not get that place. The haemodialysis scheme and the Cataract Surgeries Programme each have eHealth registration requirements of their own too. Opening the letter and doing what it says is the one action in all of this that a reader can actually take.

(In passing, the Cataract Surgeries Programme's frequently asked questions state that declining does not affect your existing place: the case is referred back to the patient's original Hospital Authority hospital, with the previous waiting position unchanged.)

#The two schemes most relevant to waiting too long

Colon assessment (stable cases waiting for colonoscopy at a public hospital), from the scheme introduction [Note 15]: the Hospital Authority provides each patient with a one-off fixed subsidy of 6,800 Hong Kong dollars (without polypectomy) or 7,500 Hong Kong dollars (with polypectomy); and the patient pays only a basic co-payment of 1,000 Hong Kong dollars, with individual private doctors possibly charging an additional fee of no more than 1,000 Hong Kong dollars, all additional fees being published on the Hospital Authority's list of private specialists for patients to choose from.

The summary card at the top of the same page uses different wording: the card says 「最低自付額」 (minimum co-payment) where the body text says 「基本自付金額」 (basic co-payment) [Note 15]. Both are on that same page and are reproduced separately; nothing on that page joins the two passages, so any quotation carrying both 「6,800元」 and 「基本自付金額」 comes from no continuous passage on it.

Doing the arithmetic: a basic co-payment of 1,000 dollars plus an additional fee of at most 1,000 dollars from an individual doctor means a patient under this scheme pays at most 2,000 dollars; and how much extra each doctor actually charges is published on the Hospital Authority's list of private specialists, visible before you choose. Patients eligible for a waiver 「可選擇不收取自付額的私家專科醫生，醫管局會為病人支付$1,000港元自付額」.

The Glaucoma Public-Private Partnership Programme (stable glaucoma patients at Hospital Authority ophthalmology clinics) states [Note 15]: each patient may have up to four subsidised consultations a year, including specified glaucoma drugs, and may receive from a private ophthalmologist up to one visual field test and one optical coherence tomography a year; and on fees, a patient in the scheme pays per attendance the equivalent of the Hospital Authority's specialist outpatient service charges — currently 250 dollars per attendance, 20 dollars per drug (charged in units of 4 weeks) and 250 dollars per investigation.

#Three things easily got wrong

One: the radiological investigation scheme is not free, and covers only two kinds of examination. The scheme page states that a patient must pay the service provider, for each radiological service item, the fee at the Hospital Authority's non-urgent radiology service advanced item level, except where the Hospital Authority waives it [Note 16]. Against the Hospital Authority's fee table from 1 January 2026, a non-urgent radiology advanced item is 500 dollars per service. So it is "public prices in a private setting", not "fully subsidised, nothing to pay". The same page also states that the service covers computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) only. Which is to say that ultrasound, X-ray, positron emission tomography and the rest are not in this scheme.

Two: the fee waiver lists differ from scheme to scheme. The Glaucoma Public-Private Partnership Programme publishes a list of six: Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients; holders of a valid certificate issued by a social worker recognised by the Hong Kong government or the Hospital Authority waiving all medical fees; recipients of the Old Age Living Allowance aged 75 or above; holders of a level 0 residential care service voucher under the Residential Care Service Voucher Scheme for the Elderly; Hospital Authority staff and their dependants; and civil servants and eligible persons [Note 16]. The Cataract Surgeries Programme publishes a list of four eligible for a waiver (see our article on cataract surgery fees). Two schemes, two different lists, and neither can be taken as a general rule.

Three: the general outpatient partnership page contradicts itself. On the Hospital Authority's general outpatient partnership introduction page, both the Chinese and the English versions carry two complete scheme descriptions at once, and the two give different fees [Note 17]: one reads 「參加計劃的病人每次就診須繳付家庭醫學診所服務的收費150元（按照政府憲報所列）和每種處方計劃藥物5元（以4星期為收費單位）」, and the other 「參加計劃的病人每次就診只須繳付普通科門診服務的收費50元（按照政府憲報所列）」.

Both passages are on the same page and both can be retrieved. There is no average to be taken between the two figures, and nobody has published which passage is current. What a reader can verify is this comparison: the combination of 150 dollars plus 5 dollars per drug agrees with the Hospital Authority's fee table effective 1 January 2026, which prints 「家庭醫學診所（包括綜合診所）每次診症150元，每種藥物5元」; while the 50-dollar passage uses 「普通科門診」, a name changed on 11 October 2025. If you are making a decision on this figure, telephone and ask; do not rely on a page that contradicts itself.

The general outpatient partnership has one more thing directly relevant to readers waiting for a specialist appointment [Note 17]: since 2021 it has run a shared care model in designated specialties, extending its scope to stable specialist outpatient patients, under which each patient has ten subsidised outpatient consultations a year; and it states for itself that the general outpatient partnership is expected to end in 2028, with patients already in it invited to join the treatment stage of the Chronic Disease Co-Care Scheme. The full eligibility and fees of the Chronic Disease Co-Care Scheme (no longer a pilot since 13 March 2026) are in our article on it.

⚠️ If you are waiting for a colonoscopy, or are a stable glaucoma patient attending an ophthalmology clinic: you do not have to apply, but it is worth knowing that these two schemes exist, how they choose people, and what you pay once chosen.

#Can attending a follow-up in the Greater Bay Area shorten the wait?

No — this scheme moves a follow-up you already have, not a new case you are still waiting for.

The government's press release of 31 March 2026 states [Note 18]: the Health Bureau announced that the Pilot Scheme on Supporting Patients of Hospital Authority in the Greater Bay Area would be extended by a year to 31 March 2027, so that eligible Hospital Authority patients (that is, patients who already have an appointment for follow-up at a designated Hospital Authority specialist outpatient or family medicine clinic) may choose to receive subsidised consultation services at a designated collaborating medical institution in the Greater Bay Area.

Note the definition in that parenthesis. The whole sentence turns on two words: "already have an appointment" and "follow-up". That is, you must already have a follow-up appointment for this scheme to be of use. Someone queueing as a new case who has not yet seen a doctor for the first time is outside its scope.

What is outside the scope has two layers, and most people read only the second. The first is what is inside [Note 18]: the pilot scheme's subsidised consultation services cover the outpatient services provided by the Hospital Authority, including anaesthesiology (pain clinic only), cardiothoracic surgery, clinical oncology, ear, nose and throat, ophthalmology, gynaecology, medicine, neurosurgery, obstetrics, orthopaedics and traumatology, paediatrics, surgery and family medicine clinics; while episodic illness, inpatient or day inpatient services and accident and emergency services are not included; and an eligible Hospital Authority patient must attend the corresponding department at HKU-Shenzhen Hospital according to the outpatient category of their Hospital Authority follow-up.

Which is to say: thirteen outpatient categories (twelve specialties plus family medicine clinics), and whichever specialty you attend for follow-up at the Hospital Authority is the only one you may attend at HKU-Shenzhen Hospital — it is not a matter of going and being seen for anything. The same Legislative Council written reply (25 February 2026) lists exactly the same thirteen, and the two documents agree.

The remaining terms [Note 18]: where an eligible Hospital Authority patient's medical fee for each designated outpatient consultation at HKU-Shenzhen Hospital is 100 renminbi or more, the patient co-pays 100 renminbi (except for those verified by the Hospital Authority as designated persons exempt from medical fees), with the balance subsidised by the pilot scheme, up to 2,000 renminbi a year; and every Hospital Authority patient joining the pilot scheme must register with eHealth.

Note that the cap does not run by calendar year. The press release states that this round's subsidy period runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 — a financial year, not January to December. If you use it once in March 2026 and once in May 2026, the two fall into different subsidy periods.

The institution currently covered is HKU-Shenzhen Hospital alone. How does someone who has not joined get in? The press release says: an eligible Hospital Authority patient who has never taken part in the pilot scheme, or who has taken part but needs to update their personal particulars, may apply to HKU-Shenzhen Hospital [Note 18] — one of the few routes in this whole article that the reader walks themselves, the opposite of the nine PPPs above. The arrangement for returning to Hong Kong for follow-up is in the press release too: a patient who does not wish to continue in the pilot scheme may say so to HKU-Shenzhen Hospital, which will, according to the patient's clinical needs, refer them back to the corresponding Hospital Authority outpatient appointment.

Two schemes frequently confused with each other should be kept apart: the above is the Pilot Scheme on Supporting Patients of Hospital Authority in the Greater Bay Area, for Hospital Authority follow-up patients; the other, the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme, is for older people to use vouchers, and the two are different things.

The pilot scheme's participation figure has two publication points, the newer being the press release of 31 March 2026: by the end of February 2026, cumulatively more than 6 000 eligible patients had joined, of whom over 60% were aged 65 or above [Note 18]. The earlier Legislative Council reply of 25 February 2026 wrote that 「截至二○二六年一月底，已有超過5 900名合資格病人參加，累積求診逾25 000人次」.

⚠️ Both figures are floors — "more than 6 000" and "more than 5 900" say at least that many, not exactly that many, so subtracting 6,000 minus 5,900 to get "about 100 more" does not hold: if the end of January was in fact 5 999 and the end of February had just passed 6 000, a month's increase could be far less than 100; and if the end of February was far above 6 000, it could be far more than 100. The safe formulation for a reader is that participation rose over that month from "more than 5 900" to "more than 6 000", the direction being upward, with neither official document publishing the precise increase. Any figure still citing 5,900 has been superseded by the government's own newer publication.

As for the voucher pilot scheme, by the end of January 2026 「超過32 200名合資格長者曾在…醫療機構使用醫療券支付門診醫療護理服務費用，涉及74 956宗交易，申領交易總額約7,956萬港元」, and the service points available to older people number 21, counting HKU-Shenzhen Hospital as one hospital with two points.

Doing the arithmetic (an example): suppose an outpatient consultation fee is 300 renminbi, the patient co-pays 100 renminbi and the scheme covers 200 renminbi; with a cap of 2,000 renminbi per subsidy period, one subsidy period could cover at most 10 such consultations. The actual consultation fee is charged by that hospital and is not fixed, so this is a demonstration of the arithmetic, not a quotation.

#What can Elderly Health Care Vouchers pay for, and what can they not?

They can pay for a great deal, but not for day surgical procedures — and the two things the official questions and answers name are precisely cataract surgery and endoscopy.

The basic terms of the Elderly Health Care Voucher (HCV) are set out on the official page (the whole sentence is reproduced here, including the exception in its second half) [Note 19]: an older person aged 65 and holding a valid Hong Kong identity card or a Certificate of Exemption issued by the Immigration Department is eligible to receive and use vouchers to pay for private primary healthcare services, except where the Hong Kong identity card was issued to that person by virtue of a permission to land or remain that has since expired or is no longer valid.

That "except where…" half is a substantive eligibility condition: if the Hong Kong identity card was issued on a permission to land or remain and that permission has expired or is no longer valid, the person is not eligible — even at 65. The same exception is repeated once each at questions 1, 2 and 9 of the frequently asked questions. On amounts: each eligible older person receives vouchers of 2,000 dollars a year, with an accumulation cap of 8,000 dollars.

⚠️ The second row above is worth reading twice: question 7 asks about minor surgery in a private outpatient setting, not about "preventive and curative services" — "preventive and curative services" is the wording in the answer. That distinction is taken up at point three below, because it is the most practical line in the whole article.

Three points are worth drawing out:

One: "cannot buy drugs" is too broad. The official wording is that they cannot be used 「純粹購買物品，如藥物…」 — purely to purchase goods, such as drugs — which is to say that drugs prescribed in the course of a service and simply going to buy drugs are two different things.

Two: "cannot be used for preventive examinations" points the wrong way. The official text states that vouchers may be used for 「預防性及治療性的服務」 (preventive and curative services); and the government further has a reward pilot scheme specifically to push older people towards spending on prevention: an eligible older person who uses a cumulative 1,000 dollars or more of vouchers in the same year on specified primary healthcare purposes such as disease prevention and health management automatically receives a 500-dollar reward into their voucher account for the same purposes, usable until the end of the following calendar year and void thereafter [Note 19]. The scheme runs for three years (2024 to 2026). Note that the expiry rule is that the reward expires at the end of the following calendar year, not that the whole scheme stops dead on 31 December 2026.

Three: the line is not the word "surgery" but "day surgical procedure" — and the official questions and answers answer both sides. The two things people wait longest for and most want to buy time out of — cataract surgery and endoscopy — are exactly what question 8 names as not payable by voucher. But do not infer from that that no surgery qualifies: question 7, immediately above it, asks 「醫療券可否用於私營門診內的小手術？」 and the answer is 「可以。」

That is, the line the official questions and answers draw themselves is:

• Minor surgery in a private outpatient setting — yes. (Question 7)
• A day surgical procedure, such as cataract surgery or endoscopy — no. (Question 8)

How the two are told apart is not further defined in the official questions and answers, and neither page draws that line anywhere. What that means for a reader in practice: if you plan to pay by voucher for something between the two (a minor ophthalmic or dermatological procedure at a private clinic, say), ask the provider before you go whether it will be claimed as a day surgical procedure — because that line only really lands on you at the moment of the claim. The vouchers are a tool of primary care, not a tool for having day surgery.

⚠️ If you are 65 or above and planning to use vouchers to tide you over: they will tide you over outpatient and primary care, not day surgery; and if you plan to have an optometric examination this year, remember the sub-cap of 2,000 dollars every two years.

#Self-financed, non-profit and university teaching clinics: what do their published prices look like?

This section is about the few that publish prices, not a list. There is no public register anywhere setting out all the non-profit or university-run clinics in Hong Kong with their fees, so the ones below are examples, not a complete list.

But before the individual providers, there is a territory-wide reference figure the government has itself published, which many assume does not exist. Paragraph 4.21 and table 4.4b of the Census and Statistics Department's Thematic Household Survey Report No. 78 — Health Status of Hong Kong Residents (conducted December 2022 to April 2023, published January 2024) publish the distribution of net consultation fees at private doctors [Note 20]: after deducting reimbursements paid by employers and/or insurers and amounts paid by Elderly Health Care Vouchers, and excluding consultations whose fee amount was unknown, the median net consultation fee per consultation with a private doctor in Hong Kong (including expenses such as drugs, X-rays and laboratory tests) was 300 dollars.

The base of table 4.4b is the 889 300 consultations in the 30 days before the survey, of which 97.2% had a known net consultation fee, distributed as: 0 dollars 24.2%; 1 to under 100 dollars 3.9%; 100 to under 200 dollars 7.3%; 200 to under 300 dollars 9.1%; 300 to under 500 dollars 30.8%; and 500 dollars or above 24.7%.

⚠️ But that figure does not answer the question you want to ask, for three reasons, all stated by the report itself. First, what it measures is the net amount — employer and insurer reimbursements and voucher payments already deducted — so it is not the price on the board at the clinic door. Second, it does not separate general practice from specialist practice; "private doctor" is a combined category. Third, it is a household survey of 2022 to 2023, not a current price list. To know what a given clinic charges today you still have to look at that clinic's own published fee table — which is why the examples below remain useful.

#Teaching clinics: one clinic, two price levels

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Optometry Clinic publishes two tiers of fees on its own website: services provided by registered optometrists, and services provided by intern optometrists (supervised by a registered optometrist).

Every cell above reading "not an item in that column" means that tier's fee table does not list that item, not that the price is unpublished. The intern optometrist tier is six items exactly, no more and no fewer.

The gap between the two tiers is not the same on every item. The comprehensive optometric examination is $680 against $300 (2.3 times); but contact lens fitting is $450 to $800 against $300, and post-fitting follow-up $350 to $450 against $300 — the simpler the item, the closer the two tiers are.

Doing the arithmetic: against the voucher sub-cap of 2,000 dollars every two years for optometric services — at the registered optometrist's comprehensive examination of $680, two are affordable within two years ($1,360), leaving $640; at the intern optometrist's $300, six are affordable within two years ($1,800), leaving $200. The same cap, and a threefold difference in the number of visits, depending which line you choose.

⚠️ But one thing has to be made clear: optometry is not ophthalmology. That PolyU page is a fee table from beginning to end, and nowhere says that its examinations can substitute for a Hospital Authority ophthalmology specialist outpatient appointment. The table above is price information, not clinical equivalence information.

#Non-profit clinics: one that publishes its prices

The Yan Chai Hospital Board Ophthalmology Clinic publishes its whole price list on its own website. Every item is copied below, with none omitted.

That page's own two notes [Note 21]: 「＊ 65歲或以上長者，仁濟醫院及董事局員工可享診金8折優惠。」 「＊＊割眼瘡收費只包1顆眼瘡，每1顆額外眼瘡需要$400附加收費。」

The second note matters a great deal to a user: the $1,300 is not the price of removing every chalazion on one eye. Doing the arithmetic: with the consultation fee discounted to 8 tenths for those aged 65 or above, $550 × 0.8 = $440. If one eye has three chalazia, the procedure fee is $1,300 + $400 × 2 = $2,100, making $2,540 with the consultation at the older person's price, or $2,650 at the ordinary price.

The clinic's own published service hours are 「逢星期二及四 (上午9時至12時正)」 and the payment methods listed are cash only.

⚠️ Read the name carefully. The clinic writes for itself that the Yan Chai Hospital Board Ophthalmology Clinic is operated by the Yan Chai Hospital Board (and is not the Yan Chai Hospital under the Hospital Authority). And the Yan Chai Hospital under the Hospital Authority is one of the 18 public hospitals with an accident and emergency department. One name, two organisations.

⚠️ A Chinese-English divergence: the English page writes the $550 as "General Consultation (including 1 medication): $550", while the Chinese page writes only 「每次550元」 and lists 「額外藥費 每項藥物$30」 separately. The two versions describe the same fee differently, and both are reproduced at [Note 21].

#Tung Wah Group of Hospitals: eligibility, locations, and an age limit effective from 1 January 2026

Tung Wah's free medical service is not a slogan; it has stated eligibility, three designated hospitals, and a new age line — and that age line appeared only after 2026.

Tung Wah's medical services introduction page reads: free medical service / in fulfilment of its mission of relieving the sick and the distressed, the group provides free Chinese and western medicine general outpatient services and western medicine inpatient services to those in need. And the "Free Medical Service" page on the same site says how "those in need" is evidenced [Note 22]: a Hong Kong resident wishing to apply for a free bed may submit evidence of receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance; someone not receiving it but in financial difficulty may apply through a medical social worker and submit evidence of their financial situation.

That is, applying for a free bed has two routes: evidence of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance if you have it; or an application through a medical social worker with evidence of your financial situation if you do not. Those two routes are, in the source document, the application routes for a free bed (that is, inpatient care); it does not say whether that status is the same thing as the "eligible person" of the family medicine outpatient leg below.

And the scope of the waiver is published not only by Tung Wah — the Hospital Authority published the same terms in a government press release. The Hospital Authority's press release of 31 October 2025 states [Note 23]: after the public healthcare fee reform takes effect in January 2026, the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals will continue to provide free outpatient services to those in need; eligible persons attending outpatient services at Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, Tung Wah Hospital and Kwong Wah Hospital will continue to be exempt from the following — the consultation and prescribed drug charges of family medicine clinics (excluding integrated clinics) (applicable to all eligible persons); and the consultation charges of specialist outpatient clinics (excluding integrated clinics and allied health clinics) (applicable only to eligible persons aged 75 or above, or 12 or below).

⚠️ The eligibility conditions of the two legs differ, and this is easily misread.

• The family medicine clinic leg: applicable to all eligible persons, with no age limit, and with prescribed drug charges exempted as well.
• The specialist outpatient clinic leg: applicable only to those aged 75 or above, or 12 or below, and exempting the consultation charge only.

In other words, a 40-year-old reader hoping to use Tung Wah's specialist outpatient clinics to tide themselves over is, from 1 January 2026, outside the specialist leg's waiver. The family medicine leg has no age limit, the official press release saying it applies to all eligible persons; but neither source document says how "eligible person" is defined on that leg, or whether it is the same thing as the two routes to a free bed above — this article will not assert on anyone's behalf that a 40-year-old in financial difficulty is automatically an "eligible person" on the family medicine side entitled to free consultation and prescribed drugs; to confirm that, ask Tung Wah. The age limit is certainly on the specialist leg only, and should not be carried across to the family medicine leg; but do not take the "wholly free" conclusion on the strength of "in financial difficulty" alone.

Tung Wah's own Revision of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Free Medical Service Scheme (the URL path dated December 2025) sets out the same arrangement, and adds a figure the Hospital Authority press release does not have [Note 24]: from 1 January 2026 the group continues to provide 600 free hospital beds to eligible persons, and the questions and answers section of that document states that 200 of them are government-funded and 400 funded by Tung Wah. On Chinese medicine, the Chinese medicine general outpatient departments at Tung Wah Hospital and Kwong Wah Hospital continue to provide internal medicine and bone-setting consultations free of charge, and waive the cost of the first two doses of Chinese medicine prescribed by an internal medicine practitioner (to be dispensed at a designated Chinese medicine pharmacy). That document also writes its limits: for specialist outpatient clinics only the consultation fee is covered, drug costs being charged under the government co-payment system; and pathology testing (at specialist clinics) and non-urgent radiological imaging services are not included in the free medical service scheme.

⚠️ The two documents disagree on one point, which this article reports without adjudicating. The family medicine row of the Hospital Authority's press release reads 「家庭醫學診所（不包括綜合診所）」 — that exclusion is the key — while the same row of Tung Wah's own document reads 「家庭醫學診所(前身為普通科門診診所、家庭醫學專科診所)」, without the exclusion. Both carry 「不包括綜合診所及專職醫療診所」 on the specialist row. That is, the two documents say different things about whether integrated clinics count on the family medicine leg — the Hospital Authority press release is dated 31 October 2025 and Tung Wah's document has a URL path of December 2025, and both are current. Before relying on that leg, ask the hospital whether the clinic you intend to attend counts as an integrated clinic.

And if you are in financial difficulty but do not qualify under that scheme, the same document sets out a second route: an attender in financial difficulty may apply through the hospital's medical social worker for a Hospital Authority medical fee waiver [Note 24] — which is to say that the medical social worker is at once the application route for Tung Wah's own scheme and for the Hospital Authority's waiver mechanism.

#District Health Centres: membership is free, and the subsidy and co-payment amounts are all published

District Health Centre charges are set out item by item in question 11 of the official page — one government subsidy of 250 dollars, plus three caps or fixed amounts.

Question 11 of the District Health Centres' public frequently asked questions, 「本服務計劃收費如何？」, states [Note 25]: the government provides a subsidy of 250 Hong Kong dollars for a medical consultation at a District Health Centre, with the balance paid by the service user; for other health services, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dietetic services, optometric assessment, speech therapy, podiatry and medical laboratory services, the patient's co-payment is capped at 150 Hong Kong dollars; for those referred by the Hospital Authority to join the community rehabilitation programme, the charge is set at 100 Hong Kong dollars per session; and Chinese medicine services are capped at a co-payment of 150 Hong Kong dollars.

Broken out, that is four things, and they are not the same kind of figure:

Other terms on the same page [Note 25]: membership registration is free of charge, and once registered a member's status is unchanged so long as they remain eligible; all group activities, and individual services provided at a District Health Centre by nurses, pharmacists and social workers, are free; District Health Centre services are provided according to clinical need, and each programme has a cap on the number of subsidised sessions; where the cap on subsidised sessions is exceeded, the person pays the full cost of subsequent services; civil servants and Hospital Authority staff pay the District Health Centre co-payments; older people already in the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme may pay District Health Centre programme service fees from their voucher account; and apart from Chinese medicine services, standalone allied health services require a referral from a family doctor.

⚠️ Free registration does not mean everyone can register — 「只要繼續合符資格」 is not a politeness, and the same page sets out two conditions for membership itself [Note 25]: a person holding a Hong Kong identity card or a Certificate of Exemption issued under the Registration of Persons Regulations (Chapter 177) (except one issued by virtue of a permission to land or remain that has expired or is no longer valid), or a child under 11 who is a Hong Kong resident; and a person who agrees to join the eHealth system. The second is a condition requiring your active agreement, of the same kind as the eHealth and eHealth-registration requirements of the colon assessment scheme, the haemodialysis scheme, the Cataract Surgeries Programme and the Greater Bay Area pilot scheme above.

Doing the arithmetic: an older person using vouchers for one physiotherapy session at a District Health Centre has a co-payment capped at 150 dollars, payable from the voucher account — if every co-payment were exactly at that cap, 2,000 dollars of vouchers a year would cover at least 13 sessions of that kind ($2,000 ÷ $150 = 13.3, that is 13 sessions with $50 left over). Because 150 dollars is a cap rather than a fixed amount, if the actual co-payment is below 150 dollars the same 2,000 dollars of vouchers will cover more than 13 sessions. But note the sentence about a cap on subsidised sessions: running out of vouchers is not the same as running out of subsidised sessions; the two caps are counted separately.

The co-payments of the Chronic Disease Co-Care Scheme are published separately; see our article on it — the two are different schemes and should not be run together.

#On the private side: a name to correct, and a benchmark

People often speak of a 「私家急症室」 — a private accident and emergency department. What matters is how those providers write it themselves: private providers' fee tables use 「急診」 or 「24小時急診服務」, while the Hospital Authority's eighteen use 「急症室」. The names differ, and so does the scope of service.

To take one example that publishes prices: the outpatient fee table of Hong Kong Adventist Hospital – Stubbs Road sets out 「24小時急診服務 — 急診診症費用 $1,200」 (the document self-dated effective 7/7/2026). That is a description of a published price, not a recommendation. And the remarks on the same fee table say what that figure does and does not include [Note 26]: the consultation fees above are for reference only, and the actual cost depends on the patient's condition and the individual doctor and therapist; and other charges such as minor procedures, drugs and laboratory tests are additional. Which is to say that $1,200 is the consultation fee itself, not the total bill for an attendance. (As for whether a private 「急診」 is an accident and emergency department in any statutory sense, that term is not defined in any document cited here, so this article passes no judgment on it.)

As for where to go for a major accident or an urgent serious illness, one private hospital's own fee table puts it most directly — remark 2 on the outpatient service fee table of Precious Blood Hospital (Caritas): an accident, work injury or urgent serious illness patient will be arranged by this outpatient department to attend the Caritas Medical Centre accident and emergency department (the document self-dated effective 1/1/2025) [Note 26]. Note that this hospital's outpatient department is not itself open 24 hours: the same fee table sets out its service periods as Monday to Saturday 08:00–19:59 ($280), Monday to Saturday 20:00–22:00 ($390), and Sundays, public holidays, typhoon signal 8 or above and black rainstorm warnings ($390). And the sentence quoted above is remark 2; remark 1, immediately above it, says what those figures do and do not include: the consultation fee does not include drugs, injections, dressings, laboratory tests, X-rays, minor procedures or other procedures performed. As with the Adventist figure, $280 and $390 are the consultation fee itself, not the bill.

Which is to say that even a private outpatient department that does not operate 24 hours states in advance that it will send you to a public accident and emergency department in such a case. This article does not compare which hospital is better or faster.

⚠️ If your budget is limited but you want something non-urgent settled sooner: the providers above are examples of published prices that could be found; they are not a list, and they are not recommendations.

#What do these options not solve?

This section exists to head off a common wrong decision: taking "leaving the public system" to be a clean act.

• Two weeks and eight weeks are not your time limit. The Hospital Authority's target is set on the median waiting time, not on every patient; a cluster whose median exactly meets the target will still have about half of comparable cases waiting longer than that figure.
• Changing cluster for follow-up means queueing afresh. The Hospital Authority's Chinese version says it plainly: with a referral letter in hand, 「可到當區診所預約服務並重新輪候」. The English version only tells you to telephone the clinic about "the waiting arrangement", without saying that the arrangement is to start again.
• Re-entering the public system is not "queue by arrival time". That formulation contradicts both Hospital Authority documents. Believe "queue by arrival time" and you will make a decision on the strength of a queueing mechanism that does not exist.
• A new case appointment needs a referral letter issued within three months. Once it has expired, a new one has to be obtained.
• Not one PPP has a door marked "apply here", so "apply for a PPP" is not a plan. But the steps after an invitation letter are yours to walk — an invited colon assessment patient must attend a designated Hospital Authority clinic for assessment, submit an application form, and register for the eHealth system at the same time.
• The Greater Bay Area pilot scheme will not shorten a new case wait, because it is for patients who already have a follow-up appointment; and whichever specialty you attend for follow-up at the Hospital Authority is the only one you may attend.
• Vouchers cannot pay for a day surgical procedure (question 8), but can pay for minor surgery in a private outpatient setting (question 7); how the two are told apart is not further defined in the official questions and answers. Vouchers are 2,000 dollars a year, with an accumulation cap of 8,000 dollars.
• The Hospital Authority has a fee safety net, but it does not take effect by itself. From 1 January 2026, alongside the medical fee waiver mechanism, the Hospital Authority set an annual cap of ten thousand dollars on public healthcare service fees without a financial assessment. The Breast Cancer Operative Service Collaboration Programme page also states that the fees and charges a patient pays through joining that scheme count towards the eligible medical fees under that year's expenditure cap. Note the conditions the Hospital Authority's "Annual Fee Cap" page sets out for itself [Note 27]: the first of four eligibility items is 「必須為符合資格人士」 and the second is that cumulative payment of 「合資格醫療費用及收費」 reaches ten thousand Hong Kong dollars; once reached, the application must be submitted by the patient through "HA Go" or a hospital shroff office, and 「每一個年度需要重新申請」, the annual application period running from 1 January each year to 31 March of the following year, late submissions not accepted, and eligible fees having to be paid in full at the time of submission; the same page separately states that self-financed drugs and medical devices are excluded.
• Seven Hospital Authority specialties publish no waiting figures. The service guide's clinic menu has fifteen specialties and eight have published figures; the remaining seven (anaesthesiology, cardiothoracic surgery, clinical oncology, dentistry, neurosurgery, obstetrics and palliative medicine) do not. Its own answer is to ask clinic staff (question 4 of the frequently asked questions). No figure does not mean a hidden figure.

#What to do next

Pick the one that matches your situation; all of them are official arrangements already cited above:

1. The condition is urgent — the Hospital Authority's accident and emergency service page states that accident and emergency is for patients needing emergency services; and the service guide writes that a patient who develops an emergency condition while waiting for specialist outpatient services should attend the nearest accident and emergency department at once. The order at accident and emergency is by condition, not by registration time. As for whether your condition counts as urgent, this article cannot answer that for you — that judgment belongs to triage nurses and doctors.
2. You are in the queue and have felt worse lately — telephone the specialist outpatient clinic you are queueing at, following that passage of "Specialist Outpatient Triage Arrangements": 「病人可聯絡有關的專科門診診所，要求提早約見醫生」. That step is what the official text tells you to do; do not stay silent for fear that the triage category cannot be changed.
3. You have not yet made the appointment and hold a referral letter — check that the date of issue is within three months; bring your identity card, proof of address and any investigation reports and X-ray films; and when handing it in, ask the staff at the counter for the estimated waiting time, per question 4 of the frequently asked questions.
4. You want the actual figures for your specialty — go back to the Hospital Authority's specialist outpatient waiting time page for the median and the 90th percentile, remembering that they are published by cluster over a rolling 12-month statistical period, and that the two weeks and eight weeks target is set on a median.
5. You are waiting for a colonoscopy, or are a stable glaucoma patient at an ophthalmology clinic — there is no need to apply to the colon assessment or glaucoma schemes yourself; they send invitation letters by waiting date and clinical condition. If a letter comes, follow it through: colon assessment requires attending a designated Hospital Authority clinic for assessment, submitting an application form, and registering for the eHealth system.
6. You are 65 or above — remember that vouchers are 2,000 dollars a year with an accumulation cap of 8,000 dollars, do not apply to day surgical procedures (though minor surgery in a private outpatient setting does qualify), and that optometric services have a separate sub-cap of 2,000 dollars every two years, with unused quota expiring at the end of each two-year period.
7. You are in financial difficulty — the Hospital Authority has a medical fee waiver mechanism, applied for through a medical social worker. There is also the annual cap of ten thousand dollars without a financial assessment from 1 January 2026, but that cap has to be applied for: once cumulative payment of eligible medical fees and charges within the year reaches ten thousand Hong Kong dollars, submit an application through "HA Go" or a hospital shroff office, afresh each year, with the application period closing on 31 March of the following year, and with self-financed drugs and medical devices excluded. The Tung Wah Group of Hospitals has a free medical service scheme of its own (evidence of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, or an application through a medical social worker) covering the family medicine clinics of Tung Wah Hospital, Tung Wah Eastern Hospital and Kwong Wah Hospital — but from 1 January 2026 the specialist clinic part is limited to eligible persons aged 75 or above and 12 or below.
8. You want to know what a District Health Centre charges — membership registration is free, but registering requires meeting the eligibility set out on that page and agreeing to join the eHealth system. A medical consultation carries a government subsidy of 250 dollars with the balance paid by you; allied health services such as physiotherapy have a co-payment capped at 150 dollars; the Hospital Authority-referred community rehabilitation programme is 100 dollars a session; and Chinese medicine has a co-payment capped at 150 dollars. Older people may pay from a voucher account.
9. A skin problem — public dermatology belongs to the Department of Health's Social Hygiene Service, and a new case needs a doctor's letter of introduction and an appointment, which can be made in person, by post or through GovHK. The government's reply HHB094 states that in 2022 and 2023 all new cases of severe skin disease were seen within 8 weeks in accordance with the service pledge. (The sentence in the same reply about a doctor referring a patient whose condition is more severe or urgent is about eczema patients.)
10. You are waiting for cataract surgery — the Cataract Surgeries Programme's eligibility conditions, fee waiver list and charges are set out in full in our article on cataract surgery fees; this article goes only as far as the entry route.

#Frequently asked questions

What figures does the Hospital Authority publish? What is the "average waiting time"? And are the two weeks and eight weeks my upper limit?

Question 1 of the frequently asked questions lists what is published item by item — eight specialties, three triage categories, and the median for urgent cases, the median for semi-urgent cases, and the median and the 「第90百分值數(最長)」 for stable cases — and there is no "average" in that list, nor such a field in the JSON or the PDF of the same dataset, so any public specialist outpatient figure labelled "average waiting time" does not come from here. As for the two weeks and eight weeks: every one of the nine pages of the Hospital Authority's Specialist Outpatient Stable New Case Waiting Time carries 「醫管局的目標是把緊急及半緊急新症的輪候時間中位數，分別維持在兩個星期和八個星期之內」 — the target is set on a median, that is, half of people inside that figure and half outside it, both satisfying the target; and the wording on the triage arrangements page is 「盡量安排」 (arrange as far as possible).

I have waited a long time — if I go private and then come back to the public system, do I start again, and is it by arrival time?

"By arrival time" contradicts both published Hospital Authority documents: specialist outpatient appointments are set on clinical grounds after a nurse screens the case and a specialist reviews the referral letter and investigation reports; and on accident and emergency, the Hospital Authority's Chinese page writes 「按照病人病情的輕重緩急而定治理的先後次序，而非按先到先得的方法」. As for the practical requirements: the Hospital Authority's "Specialist Outpatient Service" guide states that a new case appointment needs 「由本地註冊醫生在最近三個月內簽發的醫生轉介信」, and an expired one has to be replaced; the Department of Health's dermatology clinics have a different set — 「所有新症均需醫生介紹信」 and 「所有新 / 舊症均需預約」, that page giving no validity period for the letter of introduction but setting out three routes to an appointment (in person, by post, and through GovHK). And on changing cluster for follow-up after the first attendance, question 8 of the Chinese frequently asked questions says 「重新輪候」, while the English version only tells you to telephone the clinic about "the waiting arrangement".

How do I apply for a PPP?

Not one of the nine schemes has a door marked "apply here". Three of the pages write it out word for word: the radiological investigation scheme 「病人毋須自行申請」, the colon assessment scheme 「病人無需自行申請」, and the Cataract Surgeries Programme frequently asked questions 「病人毋須自行申請。醫管局會由輪候時間最長的個案開始，分批發信邀請」 — the same page also stating that this invitation is in respect of 「一般輪候個案」, and that 「至於緊急或前期個案，因此類病人需得到優先處理，醫管局會盡快為他們安排手術」. The other six are by referral from a designated Hospital Authority department, or by a Hospital Authority invitation that a patient may then 「自由選擇參加」. There is one step after the invitation letter that is yours: colon assessment states 「獲邀病人須前往指定醫管局診所接受評估及遞交申請表，並要同時登記『電子健康系統』」.

Can vouchers pay for cataract surgery or a colonoscopy?

No. The original of question 8: 「醫療券可否用於日間手術程序，例如白內障手術或内窺鏡檢查服務？ 答： 不可以。」 But do not infer from that that no surgery qualifies: question 7, immediately preceding, asks 「醫療券可否用於私營門診內的小手術？」 and the answer is 「可以。」 How the two are told apart is not further defined in the official questions and answers; before paying by voucher for a procedure between the two, ask the provider. And if it is a private hospital accident and emergency service that is outpatient and does not involve inpatient care, question 6 says 「原則上是可以使用醫療券支付服務費用」.

Will attending a follow-up in the Greater Bay Area get my new case seen sooner?

No. The pilot scheme is for 「已預約醫管局指定專科門診或家庭醫學門診覆診的病人」 — people who already have a follow-up appointment — and you must attend 「在醫管局覆診的門診類別到港大深圳醫院對應的科室」. The co-payment is 100 renminbi and the subsidy cap 2,000 renminbi, and this round's usage period is 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 (not a calendar year); it currently applies at HKU-Shenzhen Hospital; and episodic illness, inpatient or day inpatient services and accident and emergency services are all excluded. An eligible patient who has never taken part may apply to HKU-Shenzhen Hospital.

Does public dermatology really run to 2028 and 2029?

What the Department of Health publishes is the month each clinic's new case appointments are currently running to (a range of December 2027 to February 2029), not an individual patient's waiting duration, and the document itself states 「實際約期的情況或有不同」, updated to 30 June 2026. The same service triages: the government stated in a written reply to the 2024-25 estimates of expenditure that in 2022 and 2023 all new cases of severe skin disease were seen within 8 weeks in accordance with the service pledge, with medians of 2.7 and 2.9 weeks; the months above correspond to the other stable new cases. Which line you are on is judged by your doctor.

#Notes: the official originals

[Note 1] Hospital Authority, "Specialist Outpatient Waiting Time — Frequently Asked Questions" (the page self-noted 「(2020年11月6日更新)」), question 3: 「問 3: 為什麼我的預約日期和公布的輪候時間不一樣? 答 3: 公布的輪候時間並不等同個別病人的實際輪候時間。病人的實際輪候時間，將於醫護人員甄別及檢視轉介個案後，按病情的迫切性作出輪候安排。」 The English version: 「Reported waiting time is not the same as the waiting time for individual patient, as the date of appointment is arranged based on the individual patient's condition as assessed by medical staff.」

[Note 2] The same, question 1, whose published content covers eight specialties, three triage categories, and 「緊急個案中位數」, 「半緊急個案中位數」, and the median and 「第90百分值數(最長)」 for stable cases. Question 2: 「穩定個案的輪候時間中位數代表了當中一半病人的輪候時間在所列出的數值之內；而第90百分值數是代表了最長的輪候時間。」 Question 4: 「問 4: 在甚麼渠道病人可以得到沒有公布的專科輪候時間資料? 答 4: 病人於預約專科服務時，可向診所職員查詢有關專科的預計輪候時間。」 Question 5: 「專科服務輪候時間將於醫管局的網頁…內每季更新」. Note (1) of the Specialist Outpatient Stable New Case Waiting Time PDF: 「最長(第90個百分位數)輪候時間，是指有90%的新症可以在早於顯示的輪候時間內就診。」 The footnotes on the by-specialty pages: 「不包括有待分流的其他個案。」 and 「本頁資料按舊有醫院聯網界線劃分。港島東醫院聯網和港島西醫院聯網已於2026年4月1日起，正式合併為香港島醫院聯網，相關資料將於稍後作出更新。」

[Note 3] Hospital Authority, "Specialist Outpatient Triage Arrangements", in full: 「醫護人員會因應病人的臨床情況，決定病人在專科門診就診的先後緩急。新症轉介個案先由護士甄別，再由專科醫生檢視病人的轉介信及檢查報告，按照臨床情況，把病人列入以下分流類別︰緊急(第一優先類別)個案；半緊急(第二優先類別)個案；以及穩定(例行類別)個案。被列為緊急及半緊急的病人，醫護人員會盡量安排他們於兩星期及八星期內就診。」 And its last paragraph: 「若病人的狀況在輪候期間出現惡化，病人可聯絡有關的專科門診診所，要求提早約見醫生，若病情緊急，病人亦可到急症室求診。醫護人員會視乎需要作出安排。」

[Note 4] The header of every page of the Hospital Authority's Specialist Outpatient Stable New Case Waiting Time: 「專科門診診所實施分流制度，確保病情緊急並需要及早診治的病人獲得優先跟進及治療。新轉介個案通常先由護士甄別，再經有關專科醫生覆核，然後分為緊急、半緊急和穩定個案。醫管局的目標是把緊急及半緊急新症的輪候時間中位數，分別維持在兩個星期和八個星期之內。」 The English version: 「HA's targets are to maintain the median waiting time of Urgent and Semi-urgent cases within two weeks and eight weeks respectively.」

[Note 5] Hospital Authority, "Specialist Outpatient Waiting Time — Frequently Asked Questions", question 6, Chinese: 「大部分緊急和半緊急個案均可在兩星期及八星期內就診。」 and 「就穩定個案，病人可以自行選擇聯網預約專科門診新症，但醫護人員在安排預約專科門診服務時，亦會考慮病人的病況及所需服務。例如，就需要社區支援服務和頻密的跟進治療的病人，醫管局職員或會建議及安排病人在鄰近其住所的專科門診就診，以方便覆診和使用社區支援服務。」 English: 「Patients classified as urgent and semi-urgent will be arranged to have the consultation within 2 weeks and 8 weeks respectively as far as possible.」 Question 8, Chinese: 「病人可向醫生提出到其他聯網接受專科服務。病人在獲得醫生轉介信後，可到當區診所預約服務並重新輪候。由於個別專科在輪候安排不盡相同，病人可向有關專科醫護人員查詢詳細安排。」 English: 「Patients can approach their doctors to make referral for specialist out-patient services in other cluster and make booking for the services in other cluster with the referral letter. For details on the waiting arrangement, patients may contact respective clinic.」

[Note 6] Hospital Authority, "Specialist Outpatient Service" guide: 「病人須帶同以下文件/資料到專科門診診所作新症預約：香港身份證 (或有效身份證明文件)／由本地註冊醫生在最近三個月內簽發的醫生轉介信／住址資料」「病人於應診時，請攜同身份証明文件，如有檢驗報告及X光片，請一併帶同。」「病人如在輪候專科門診服務期間出現緊急情況，應立即到就近急症室求診。」

[Note 7] Hospital Authority, "Accident and Emergency Service": 「為了確保有緊急需要的市民前往急症室診治時，獲得及時的急症服務，所有急症室已實行病人分流制度 。病人登記求診時，分流護士會根據病人需要危殆、危急、緊急、次緊急及非緊急治療而予以分類。病人獲診治的優先次序，是視乎病人的病況而不是根據登記的時間。」「醫院管理局轄下急症室均實施分流制度，按照病人病情的輕重緩急而定治理的先後次序，而非按先到先得的方法。」「對於分流為危殆類別的病人，他們毋須等候，會即時獲得醫護人員治理。至於一些非緊急的病人，他們可能需要等候較長時間。」「病人的情況如不危急，應向公立或私家診所求醫。」「分流服務是急症室服務其中重要一環。分流後，病人在接受醫生診症前離開急症室，可於急症室登記後24小時內經「HA Go」或急症室登記處申請退款。符合資格人士可提出申請退回350元，非符合資格人士可提出申請退回1,850元。」

[Note 8] Hospital Authority, Data Dictionary — Accident and Emergency Waiting Time: t3p50 「分流類別 III（緊急）病人的預計急症室等候時間。一半輪候中的病人能在該時間內就診。」; t3p95 「大部份輪候中的病人能在該時間內就診。」; the remarks on the category IV and V fields 「向上捨入至最接近的0.5 小時」; the permitted values of t1wt and t2wt being 「多名病人正在搶救中」 or a number of minutes, with the indicator field's permitted values 「不適用／是／否」 and the note 「不適用是指急症室正有多名病人正在搶救中」. The qualification on the Hospital Authority's accident and emergency waiting time web page: 「下列數據是統計過去數小時其他病人的最長等候時間，只供參考，並非現時預計等候時間。」「急症室須處理突發意外傷者及危重病人，因此未能準確提供預計等候時間，敬請見諒及耐心等候。」

[Note 9] Hospital Authority specialist outpatient waiting time page: 「醫管局已在網頁和專科門診診所展示輪候時間的最新資料，病人可以自行選擇聯網預約專科門診新症。但醫管局提醒病人，選擇居住地區所屬聯網內的專科門診，可以方便覆診和使用社區支援服務。而醫護人員在安排預約專科門診服務時，亦會考慮病人的病況及所需服務，或會建議及安排病人在鄰近其住所的專科門診就診。」 The Hospital Authority page also carries: 「醫院管理局轄下普通科門診診所及社區健康中心已由2025 年10 月11 日起分別命名為「家庭醫學診所」及「家庭醫學綜合中心」。」 and 「預約未來24小時的診症時間」.

[Note 10] Department of Health clinic list page: 「衞生署轄下社會衞生科診所提供性病檢查，治療及輔導。一切資料，完全保密。 合資格人士費用全免。 毋須預約或醫生介紹信。」 The dermatology clinic page (self-dated 二零二五年六月二日), all four lines: 「收費： 根據 專科門診收費／轉介： 所有新症均需醫生介紹信／資料保密： 所有資料絕對保密／備註： 所有新 / 舊症均需預約。就新症預約，請携同身份証明文件及香港註册西醫發出的轉介信親身到診所預約，或可以郵寄方式寄到指定診所，有關詳情可向有關診所查詢。此外，診所亦接受經香港政府一站通遞交的預約 / 改期申請，有關詳情可按此瀏覽。」

[Note 11] The three notes to section (A) of the Department of Health's "Summary of Fees and Charges for Public Health Services — Outpatient Services": 「上述(a)、(e)、(f)及(g)項的收費不適用於由九龍灣綜合治療中心及油麻地綜合治療中心提供的與性病有關的檢查或治療。」「上述(a)項的收費不包括有關的配藥、放射造影服務及化驗費用。」「上述(e)項的收費不包括自費藥物。」 Only the latter two are printed under section (B).

[Note 12] The Department of Health Social Hygiene Service's "New Skin Case Appointment Status", the document's own note: 「更新日期截至 2026 年 6 月 30 日，實際約期的情況或有不同。請帶備轉介信到上述其中一間診所辦理預約手續。」

[Note 13] Legislative Council written reply on the 2024-25 estimates of expenditure (reply reference HHB094, Health Bureau), part (one): 「社會衞生服務自2021年第4季度起有系統地統計診所個案輪候時間。根據備存的資料，在2022年和2023年，所有嚴重皮膚病新症都已根據服務承諾，被安排於8個星期內到診，輪候時間中位數分別為2.7個和2.9個星期。至於其他穩定新症，輪候時間中位數為90個和93個星期，整體最長輪候時間分別為203個和183個星期。」 Part (four): 「濕疹為常見的皮膚病……患者病情多屬輕微，主要由基層醫療醫生診治……至於病情較嚴重或緊急的患者，醫生可以把個案轉介至衞生署社會衞生服務轄下的皮膚科專科門診。」

[Note 14] The Hospital Authority public-private partnership introduction pages. Radiological investigation — 「醫管局的醫生會在病人應診時邀請病人參與計劃，並進行即場登記。病人毋須自行申請。」 Colon assessment — 「計劃辦事處會按病人登記輪候大腸鏡檢查的日期及臨床情況決定優先次序，分批發出邀請信，病人無需自行申請。」 and 「獲邀病人須前往指定醫管局診所接受評估及遞交申請表，並要同時登記「電子健康系統」，以便醫管局與私家醫生互通醫療紀錄及報告。」 Cataract Surgeries Programme frequently asked questions — 「病人毋須自行申請。醫管局會由輪候時間最長的個案開始，分批發信邀請符合資格人士申請參加此計劃。」「至於緊急或前期個案，因此類病人需得到優先處理，醫管局會盡快為他們安排手術，而不用他們自行安排約見私家醫生以接受治療。」「病人的個案將被轉介回其原有醫管局醫院，先前的輪候次序則維持不變。」

[Note 15] Colon assessment introduction page: 「醫管局會為每名病人提供一次過定額資助，資助額為6,800港元（不連瘜肉切除）或7,500港元（連同瘜肉切除）。另外，病人只需支付1,000港元基本自付金額，有個別私家醫生可能收取不超過1,000港元的額外費用，所有額外費用將刊登在醫管局私家專科醫生名單內供病人選擇。」 The summary card on the same page: 「醫管局會為每名病人提供一次過定額資助6,800元（不連瘜肉切除）或7,500元（連同瘜肉切除），病人只需支付1,000港元最低自付額。」 and 「可選擇不收取自付額的私家專科醫生，醫管局會為病人支付$1,000港元自付額」. Glaucoma Public-Private Partnership Programme: 「在計劃下，每名病人每年可享有高達四次資助診症，包括特定的青光眼藥物、以及可接受由私家眼科醫生提供每年最多一次視野檢查及一次光學相干斷層掃描服務。」「參加計劃的病人每次就診只須繳付相等於醫管局專科門診服務的費用──現時為每次診症250元、每種藥物20元(以4星期為收費單位)及每項檢查250元。」

[Note 16] Radiological investigation scheme page: 「病人需向服務提供者就每個放射科服務項目繳付醫管局非緊急放射科服務 – 高端項目收費水平的費用，如醫管局豁免則例外。」 and 「本計劃為病人提供電腦掃描造影(CT)及磁力共振掃描造影(MRI)服務。」 The Glaucoma Public-Private Partnership Programme's fee waiver list: 「綜合社會保障援助受助人、由香港政府或醫管局認可社工所發減免全部醫療費用的有效證明書持有人、75歲或以上長者生活津貼受惠人、「長者院舍照顧服務券計劃」級別0院舍券持有人、醫管局員工及家屬及公務員及合資格人士」.

[Note 17] The two passages on the same page of the Hospital Authority's general outpatient partnership introduction: 「參加計劃的病人每次就診須繳付家庭醫學診所服務的收費150元（按照政府憲報所列）和每種處方計劃藥物5元（以4星期為收費單位）。」 and 「參加計劃的病人每次就診只須繳付普通科門診服務的收費50元（按照政府憲報所列）。」 The same page also carries: 「門診協作自2021年開始，於指定專科推行共同醫治模式，將其服務對象涵蓋至病情穩定的專科門診病人。在計劃下，每名病人每年享有十次資助門診服務」 and 「門診協作預計於2028年結束，已參加計劃的病人會被邀請參加「慢病共治計劃」的治療階段」.

[Note 18] Government press release of 31 March 2026: 「醫務衞生局今日（三月三十一日）公布，將延展「支援粵港澳大灣區醫院管理局病人先導計劃」（先導計劃）一年至明年三月三十一日，以便利合資格的醫院管理局（醫管局）病人（即已預約醫管局指定專科門診或家庭醫學門診覆診的病人）可選擇於粵港澳大灣區指定協作醫療機構接受資助診症服務。」「先導計劃的資助診症服務範圍會繼續涵蓋醫管局提供的門診服務，包括麻醉科（只包括痛症科門診）、心胸外科、臨床腫瘤科、耳鼻喉科、眼科、婦科、內科、神經外科、產科、矯形及創傷外科（骨科）、兒科、外科及家庭醫學門診。至於偶發性疾病、住院或日間住院及急症室服務則不包括在資助診症服務範圍內。合資格的醫管局病人須根據在醫管局覆診的門診類別到港大深圳醫院對應的科室接受資助診症服務。」「如合資格的醫管局病人每次接受港大深圳醫院指定門診診症服務的醫療費用為人民幣100元或以上，該病人需共付人民幣100元（經醫管局核實的指定享有豁免醫療費用人士除外），餘下的醫療費用差額便由先導計劃資助，上限為每年人民幣2,000元，有關資助的使用期為明日（四月一日）至明年三月三十一日。」「所有參加先導計劃的醫管局病人須登記醫健通。」「至於從未參與先導計劃的合資格醫管局病人，或曾參與該計劃但需要更新個人資料的人士則可由明日起向港大深圳醫院提出申請。」「病人如無意繼續參加先導計劃，並希望返回香港在醫管局門診覆診，可向港大深圳醫院提出。港大深圳醫院會根據病人的臨床需要，轉介他們回醫管局的相應門診預約跟進。」

[Note 19] Elderly Health Care Voucher official page: 「年滿65歲並持有有效香港身份證或入境事務處發出的《豁免登記證明書》的長者，即符合資格領取及使用醫療券支付私營基層醫療服務的費用，但若該長者是憑藉其已獲入境或逗留准許而獲簽發香港身份證，而該准許已經逾期或不再有效則除外。」「現時，每名合資格長者每年可獲發的醫療券金額為 2,000元，而醫療券累積金額上限為 8,000元。」 The reward pilot scheme: 「合資格長者如在同一年度累計使用1,000元或以上醫療券於預防疾病和管理健康等特定基層醫療用途，即會自動獲發放500元獎賞至其醫療券戶口內作同樣用途，使用期限為下一個曆年年底，逾期作廢。」

[Note 20] Census and Statistics Department, Thematic Household Survey Report No. 78 — Health Status of Hong Kong Residents, paragraph 4.21: 「在扣除僱主及／或保險公司所支付的補償金額、長者醫療券所支付的費用及撇除診金款額不詳的就醫次數後，每次向香港私家醫生求診的診金淨額（包括一些如藥物、照X 光及進行化驗等所需的開支）的中位數為300 元。」

[Note 21] The two notes on the Yan Chai Hospital Board Ophthalmology Clinic page: 「＊ 65歲或以上長者，仁濟醫院及董事局員工可享診金8折優惠。」「＊＊割眼瘡收費只包1顆眼瘡，每1顆額外眼瘡需要$400附加收費。」 and 「仁濟醫院董事局眼科診所由仁濟醫院董事局（並非醫院管理局管轄之仁濟醫院）營運」. The English page: 「General Consultation (including 1 medication): $550」.

[Note 22] Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, "Free Medical Service": 「本港市民如欲申請免費病床，可提交接受綜合社會保障援助（俗稱綜援）的有關證明；沒有接受綜援而有經濟困難者，則可向醫務社工申請並提交有關經濟狀況證明。」 The English "Free Medical Services" page carries the same arrangement.

[Note 23] Hospital Authority press release of 31 October 2025: 「此外，在公營醫療收費改革明年一月生效後，東華三院將會繼續肩負救病拯危的使命，為有需要人士提供免費門診服務。符合資格人士於東華東院、東華醫院及廣華醫院的門診服務求診將會繼續獲豁免繳付以下費用：家庭醫學診所（不包括綜合診所）的診治及處方藥物費用（適用於所有符合資格人士）／專科門診診所（不包括綜合診所及專職醫療診所）的診治費用（只適用於年齡為75歲或以上，或12歲或以下的符合資格人士）」 The English version: 「Attendance and prescription fees at Family Medicine Clinics (excluding integrated clinics) (applicable to all Eligible Persons)」 and 「Attendance fee at Specialist Outpatient Clinics (excluding integrated clinics and allied health clinics) (applicable only to Eligible Persons aged 75 or above, or aged 12 or below)」

[Note 24] Revision of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Free Medical Service Scheme (URL path December 2025): 「由2026 年1 月1 日起，本院繼續為符合資格人士提供600 張免費醫院病床」; the questions and answers section 「其中200 張由政府資助，400 張由東華資助」; 「專科門診則只涵蓋診症費，藥費按照政府共付制收取」; 「如果到診人士有經濟困難，可以向醫院的醫務社工申請醫管局醫療費用豁免。」 The family medicine row of the same document reads 「家庭醫學診所(前身為普通科門診診所、家庭醫學專科診所)」.

[Note 25] District Health Centre official frequently asked questions, question 11: 「政府將為地區康健中心的醫務諮詢提供港幣250元的補貼，差額由服務使用者繳付。至於其他醫療服務，包括物理治療、職業治療、營養學服務、視光學評估、言語治療、足病診療及醫學化驗服務，病人的自付費用上限為港幣150元。由醫院管理局轉介參加社區復康計劃的人士，每節服務收費定於港幣100元。中醫服務的自付費用上限為港幣150元。」 Other terms on the same page: 「會員登記費用全免，一經登記後，參加者只要繼續合符資格，會員資格不變」「所有小組活動，以及由護士、藥劑師及社工於地區康健中心提供的個人服務均是免費」「地區康健中心的服務是根據臨床需要而定，不同計劃的補貼服務次數均設有上限」「如超出補貼服務節數的上限，市民須全額繳付期後的費用」「公務員及醫院管理局員工須繳付地區康健中心服務的自付費用」「已參加長者醫療券計劃的長者可以從醫療券賬戶繳付地區康健中心計劃的服務費用」「除中醫服務外，單獨專職醫療服務均需要家庭醫生轉介」. The two membership conditions: 「持有根據《人事登記規例》（香港法例第177章）所簽發香港身份證或《豁免登記證明書》的人士，但若該人士是憑藉其已獲入境或逗留准許而獲簽發香港身份證，而該准許已經逾期或不再有效則除外；或為香港居民的11歲以下兒童」「同意加入『電子健康系統』的人士」.

[Note 26] Hong Kong Adventist Hospital – Stubbs Road outpatient fee table (the document self-dated effective 7/7/2026): 「24小時急診服務 — 急診診症費用 $1,200」; remarks: 「上述診金僅供參考，所需費用須視乎病人實際情況及個別醫生和治療師而定。」「其他費用如小手術、藥費、化驗費等另計，歡迎向門診收費處查詢其他項目收費。」 Precious Blood Hospital (Caritas) outpatient service fee table (the document self-dated effective 1/1/2025), remark 2: 「如意外受傷、工傷或緊急危疾病人，本門診會安排到明愛醫院急症室診治。」 Remark 1: 「診症費不包括藥物、注射、換症、化驗、X光、小手術及其他施行程序，文件填寫及打印費用等。」

[Note 27] The four eligibility items on the Hospital Authority's "Annual Fee Cap" page: 「必須為符合資格人士*」「病人於年度內累計繳付的「合資格醫療費用及收費」達到一萬港元」「在申請「全年收費上限」時，在醫管局轄下無任何拖欠的「合資格醫療費用及收費」」「病人接受之醫院服務不得被醫管局裁定為「無臨床需要」」; the application arrangements: 「年度接受申請期由每年的1月1日開始，至次年的3月31日截止。遲交的申請將不獲接納，合資格醫療費用只包括在每年1月1日至12月31日所發出的醫療賬單，並在提交申請時已全數繳付。」「每一個年度需要重新申請「全年收費上限」」「自費藥物及醫療器械除外。」 The Breast Cancer Operative Service Collaboration Programme page: 「病人透過參加本計劃的費用和收費將計入該年度支出上限的合資格醫療費用內。」

#What this article does not state

• "Which symptoms count as urgent" — no list is given here. The Hospital Authority's triage is done by triage nurses and specialists from the patient's clinical condition at the time, and the official documents cited here publish no criteria for the public to judge by. A seemingly complete list of symptoms would have readers inferring from "I am not on the list" that nothing is wrong, and that inference is itself dangerous.
• A waiting commitment for accident and emergency categories IV and V — there is none. The Hospital Authority publishes service targets for categories I to III only. The "non-urgent waits 4 to 8 hours" of popular accounts is not to be found in any published Hospital Authority document, and is not used here.
• Whether the accident and emergency waiting time display is capped at 8 hours — no statement is made. In the script file of the Hospital Authority's accident and emergency waiting time web page, besides the standing qualification cited here, there is a further piece of reserve text mentioning 「最長等候時間顯示上限為8小時」; but in the same file the variable controlling whether that text is displayed is switched off throughout, so the material cited here is not enough to establish that the cap is the current display rule. This article cites the standing passage only.
• A price list of private specialist first consultations — none is given. The Census and Statistics Department's Thematic Household Survey Report No. 78 does publish the median and distribution of net consultation fees at private doctors (above), but it is a household survey of 2022 to 2023, measures a net amount, and does not separate general from specialist practice, so it cannot answer what a first consultation in a given specialty costs. As for the board price at each clinic, this article cites only the fee tables individual providers publish themselves, noting each document's own effective date; no public register listing all private general or specialist first consultation board prices in Hong Kong was found.
• "A private referral gets you a specialist within two to seven days" and "private family doctors and specialists have informal networks" — not written here. No source in the material cited supports either statement.
• "There is no legal or administrative restriction on leaving a public queue for the private sector" — this article does not make that statement. What it can cite is the Hospital Authority's published appointment requirements and cluster-change arrangements themselves, not an assertion that no law restricts it.
• This article has not converted the Department of Health's dermatology appointment months into weeks or months. Converting would require an assumption the document does not supply.
• Whether the Department of Health's dermatology clinics have a published triage grading (like the Hospital Authority's three tiers) — no statement is made. What can be cited is the government's reply on the 2022 and 2023 service pledge for severe skin disease new cases; the details of any grading system are not written in the documents cited here. And the referral sentence in the same reply has eczema patients as its subject, so it is cited here for eczema only and not generalised to other skin diseases.
• Whether a patient can ask for a Hospital Authority triage category to be reassessed — no statement is made. The Hospital Authority's published documents describe no re-triage application procedure, and none of them says a patient may not ask; this article cites only the deterioration route written into "Specialist Outpatient Triage Arrangements" (contact the clinic and ask for an earlier appointment), and points out that that step is what the official text tells you to do.
• Where the line falls between a voucher "day surgical procedure" and "minor surgery in a private outpatient setting" — the official questions and answers do not further define it, and neither does this article. Both questions (7 and 8) are quoted here in full, but the line between them is settled at the moment the provider makes the claim, and this article will not draw it for anyone.
• Whether the Hospital Authority has specialist dermatology outpatient clinics of its own — no statement is made. Dermatology is not among the eight specialties whose waiting times the Hospital Authority publishes, nor among the specialties on its specialist outpatient clinic menu; but those two points are not enough to infer that it has no such service at all, and this article has no source for saying that the Department of Health carries the whole of Hong Kong's public dermatology need.
• Which of the general outpatient partnership's 150 dollars and 50 dollars is current — this article does not adjudicate. The same Hospital Authority page carries two complete scheme descriptions with different fees; both are reproduced here, with the comparison a reader can verify pointed out, but this article will not declare which is in force.
• The actual co-payment for a District Health Centre medical consultation — there is no fixed figure. Question 11 of the official frequently asked questions publishes the government subsidy of 250 dollars and 「差額由服務使用者繳付」, and the 150-dollar and 100-dollar caps or fixed amounts for other services; but the co-payment for a medical consultation equals the network doctor's charge less 250 dollars, and what each network doctor charges is not listed on dhc.gov.hk's public pages (retrieved 3 August 2026).
• How the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals free medical service defines "eligible person" — both documents use the term without defining it on the same page. The application routes (evidence of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, or an application to a medical social worker with evidence of financial circumstances), the three hospitals, the eligibility conditions of the two legs and the 600 free beds are all published and are set out above; but the term "eligible person" itself is used as a given in both the Hospital Authority press release and the Tung Wah document, neither of which writes out its definition on the same page, and this article will not define it on their behalf.
• Whether the Tung Wah family medicine leg includes integrated clinics — the two current documents differ, and this article reports without adjudicating. The Hospital Authority press release of 31 October 2025 writes 「不包括綜合診所」, and the same row of Tung Wah's own revision document has no such exclusion.
• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Optometry Clinic's fee page carries no effective date of its own (the footer shows only a copyright year), so that price list can be cited only by retrieval date; and whether that clinic's intern optometrist tier has eligibility or quota restrictions is not stated here.
• Which provider is better or faster — this article makes no comparison or recommendation. Every price in it restates a provider's own published fee table.

#Sources

• 「公布的輪候時間並不等同個別病人的實際輪候時間」; the difference between the median and the 「第90百分值數(最長)」; the eight specialties the Hospital Authority publishes (the Chinese version's 耳鼻喉科, 婦科, 內科, 眼科, 骨科, 兒科, 精神科, 外科) and the three triage categories; the second paragraph of question 6, 「就穩定個案，病人可以自行選擇聯網預約專科門診新症，但醫護人員在安排預約專科門診服務時，亦會考慮病人的病況及所需服務」; quarterly updating; 「重新輪候」 on changing cluster for follow-up (Chinese version) against the English A8's second sentence "For details on the waiting arrangement, patients may contact respective clinic."; the divergence between 「大部分緊急和半緊急個案均可在兩星期及八星期內就診」 (Chinese) and "as far as possible" (English); and asking clinic staff for the estimated waiting time: Hospital Authority, "Specialist Outpatient Waiting Time — Frequently Asked Questions", the page self-noted 「(2020年11月6日更新)」, Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_view_content.asp?Content_ID=282825&Lang=CHIB5&Dimension=100&Ver=HTML ; English https://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_view_content.asp?Content_ID=282825&Lang=ENG&Dimension=100&Ver=HTML (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The three triage categories; the specialist reviewing the referral letter and investigation reports after nurse screening; the 「盡量安排」 of two weeks for urgent and eight weeks for semi-urgent; and contacting the specialist outpatient clinic for an earlier appointment on deterioration: Hospital Authority, "Specialist Outpatient Triage Arrangements", the page carrying no revision date of its own, Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_view_content.asp?Content_ID=214169&Lang=CHIB5&Dimension=100&Ver=HTML ; English at the same Content_ID (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• That patients may choose their own cluster for a new specialist outpatient case; the Hospital Authority's suggestion to choose the cluster of one's district of residence; and the last sentence of the same passage, 「而醫護人員在安排預約專科門診服務時，亦會考慮病人的病況及所需服務，或會建議及安排病人在鄰近其住所的專科門診就診」: Hospital Authority specialist outpatient waiting time page, Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_view_content.asp?Content_ID=214177&Lang=CHIB5&Dimension=100&Ver=HTML ; English at the same Content_ID (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The three requirements for a new case appointment (identity card, a referral letter issued within the past three months, proof of address); bringing investigation reports and X-ray films when attending; attending the nearest accident and emergency department if an emergency arises while waiting; the 15 specialties on the clinic menu (麻醉科, 心胸外科, 臨床腫瘤科, 牙科, 耳鼻喉科, 眼科, 婦科, 內科, 神經外科, 產科, 矯形及創傷外科 (骨科), 兒科, 紓緩醫學科, 精神科, 外科); and the 12 specialties bookable through "HA Go": Hospital Authority, "Specialist Outpatient Service" guide, the page carrying no revision date of its own, Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_view_content.asp?Content_ID=10053&Lang=CHIB5&Dimension=100&Ver=HTML ; English at the same Content_ID (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• General outpatient clinics and community health centres renamed family medicine clinics and family medicine integrated centres from 11 October 2025; and patients with episodic illness being able to book a consultation slot in the next 24 hours: Hospital Authority, "Family Medicine Clinics", Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_view_content.asp?Content_ID=10052&Lang=CHIB5&Dimension=100&Ver=HTML ; English at the same Content_ID; the government announcement of the renaming cited https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202510/10/P2025101000539.htm (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The five accident and emergency triage categories; 「病人獲診治的優先次序，是視乎病人的病況而不是根據登記的時間」; 「醫院管理局轄下急症室均實施分流制度，按照病人病情的輕重緩急而定治理的先後次序，而非按先到先得的方法」; the eighteen public hospitals with an accident and emergency department; the service targets for categories I to III; 「病人的情況如不危急，應向公立或私家診所求醫」; and the refund arrangement for leaving after triage without being seen: Hospital Authority, "Accident and Emergency Service", the page carrying no revision date of its own, Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_view_content.asp?Content_ID=10051&Lang=CHIB5&Dimension=100&Ver=HTML ; English at the same Content_ID (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• Accident and emergency waiting times published by hospital (18 hospitals, each with six fields for categories 1, 2, 3 and IV/V); the moment cited in the text being the data's own 「2026年8月2日 下午9時30分」: Hospital Authority accident and emergency waiting time open data (live feed), Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/opendata/aed/aedwtdata2-tc.json ; English https://www.ha.org.hk/opendata/aed/aedwtdata2-en.json (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The complete 18 rows for the moment cited (a permanent link whose content does not change with the live feed): Hong Kong government open data platform historical archive https://api.data.gov.hk/v1/historical-archive/get-file?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ha.org.hk%2Fopendata%2Faed%2Faedwtdata2-tc.json&time=20260802-2145 (the file self-noted as updated 「2026年8月2日 下午9時30分」; retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The official definitions of the six fields (「預計急症室等候時間」; t3p50 「一半輪候中的病人能在該時間內就診」; t3p95 「大部份輪候中的病人能在該時間內就診」; the category IV/V values 「向上捨入至最接近的0.5 小時」; 「多名病人正在搶救中」 as a permitted value): Hospital Authority, Data Specification for A&E Waiting Time https://www.ha.org.hk/opendata/Data-Specification-for-A%26E-Waiting-Time-tc.pdf (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• 「下列數據是統計過去數小時其他病人的最長等候時間，只供參考，並非現時預計等候時間」 and 「急症室須處理突發意外傷者及危重病人，因此未能準確提供預計等候時間，敬請見諒及耐心等候」: the Hospital Authority accident and emergency waiting time web page https://www.ha.org.hk/aedwt/aedwt.html and its text file https://www.ha.org.hk/aedwt/js/AedWt.js (Chinese and English coexist in the same file; retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The medians and "longest" for stable new cases in medicine by cluster; the medians for urgent new cases in medicine (Hong Kong West 「少於 1 星期」, the other six clusters 「1 星期」) and for semi-urgent new cases (Hong Kong West 4 weeks, Kowloon East 5 weeks, the other five clusters 6 weeks); the statistical period 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026; the next update date 30 October 2026; and the 164,462 new case bookings in medicine with their triage proportions: Hospital Authority specialist outpatient waiting time open data, Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/opendata/sop/sop-waiting-time-tc.json ; English https://www.ha.org.hk/opendata/sop/sop-waiting-time-en.json (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• 「醫管局的目標是把緊急及半緊急新症的輪候時間中位數，分別維持在兩個星期和八個星期之內」 (carried in the header of every one of that document's nine pages; the English version reading "HA's targets are to maintain the median waiting time of Urgent and Semi-urgent cases within two weeks and eight weeks respectively."); note (1) 「最長(第90個百分位數)輪候時間，是指有90%的新症可以在早於顯示的輪候時間內就診」; note (2) on the data being divided by the former seven clusters and on the Hong Kong East and West clusters merging on 1 April 2026: Hospital Authority, Specialist Outpatient Stable New Case Waiting Time (one bilingual document) https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/sopc/dw_wait_ls.pdf (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• Accident and emergency 400 dollars per attendance (categories I and II exempt) and 2,100 dollars for non-eligible persons; specialist clinics 250 dollars per attendance and 20 dollars per drug; family medicine clinics 150 dollars per attendance and 5 dollars per drug; non-urgent radiology advanced items 500 dollars per service; and the annual fee cap of ten thousand dollars without financial assessment from 1 January 2026: Hospital Authority, "Fees and Charges", the page self-noting that the charges take effect from 1 January 2026, Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_view_content.asp?Content_ID=10045&Lang=CHIB5&Dimension=100&Ver=HTML ; English at the same Content_ID (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The four eligibility items of the "Annual Fee Cap" (「必須為符合資格人士」, cumulative payment of ten thousand Hong Kong dollars within the year, no outstanding amount, and services not determined to be 「無臨床需要」), application through "HA Go" or a hospital shroff office, 「每一個年度需要重新申請」, the application period closing on 31 March of the following year with 「遲交的申請將不獲接納」, fees having to be 「在提交申請時已全數繳付」, and 「自費藥物及醫療器械除外」: Hospital Authority, "Annual Fee Cap (for eligible persons)", Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_view_content.asp?Content_ID=281820&Lang=CHIB5&Dimension=100&Ver=HTML ; English at the same Content_ID (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The complete list of the nine public-private partnership schemes with their target groups, all eligibility conditions and entry routes; the radiological investigation scheme's 「病人毋須自行申請」, its coverage of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) only, and the requirement to pay the Hospital Authority's non-urgent radiology advanced item fee; the colon assessment scheme's four eligibility conditions (waiting for colonoscopy at a public hospital, classified as a stable case, able to do the pre-procedure preparation at home, and suitable for the procedure at a day medical facility), the 6,800 and 7,500 dollar fixed subsidies, the 1,000-dollar basic co-payment (「最低自付額」 on the summary card), the additional fee of at most 1,000 dollars, invitation letters in batches by waiting registration date, and 「獲邀病人須前往指定醫管局診所接受評估及遞交申請表，並要同時登記「電子健康系統」」; the Cataract Surgeries Programme's 「屬適合接受局部麻醉手術的一般輪候個案」; the haemodialysis scheme's 「現正於公立醫院接受血液透析服務而病情又穩定的香港居民」 and 「合資格的病人須同時參加「電子健康系統」」; the glaucoma scheme's up to four subsidised consultations a year, the 250/20/250 dollar charges, the six-item fee waiver list, and invited patients 「自由選擇參加」; the general outpatient partnership page carrying both the 150-dollars-plus-5-per-drug and the 50-dollar descriptions, 「至少12個月前開始接受治理的病人……可以自由選擇參加」, the shared care model covering stable specialist outpatient patients since 2021, and the expected end in 2028; the trauma, breast cancer and radiation therapy schemes being referred respectively by the orthopaedics, surgery and clinical oncology departments of designated Hospital Authority hospitals; and the Breast Cancer Operative Service Collaboration Programme's statement about the annual fee cap: Hospital Authority public-private partnership website (none of the scheme introduction pages carries a revision date of its own), Chinese https://www4.ha.org.hk/ppp ; English https://www4.ha.org.hk/ppp/en/ppp-programmes (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The Cataract Surgeries Programme's 「病人毋須自行申請。醫管局會由輪候時間最長的個案開始， 分批發信邀請符合資格人士申請參加此計劃」, the 「一般輪候個案」 in its eligibility conditions and the parenthesis that follows, 「至於緊急或前期個案，因此類病人需得到優先處理，醫管局會盡快為他們安排手術，而不用他們自行安排約見私家醫生以接受治療」, and 「病人的個案將被轉介回其原有醫管局醫院，先前的輪候次序則維持不變」: Hospital Authority Cataract Surgeries Programme frequently asked questions https://www4.ha.org.hk/ppp/ppp-programmes/csp/faq (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The Department of Health clinic outpatient service fees, all items (a)–(g) and all notes of both section (A) eligible persons and section (B) non-eligible persons (including section (B)'s 250 dollars for injections and dressings, 90 dollars per drug item for up to 4 weeks, non-urgent radiological imaging at 400/1,600/4,700 dollars and pathology testing at 400/800/16,100 dollars, and section (A)'s three notes); and the announcement of 31 October 2025 aligning with the fee reform of 1 January 2026: Department of Health, "Summary of Fees and Charges for Public Health Services — Outpatient Services", the page self-dated 二零二六年一月一日, Chinese https://www.dh.gov.hk/tc_chi/useful/useful_fee/useful_fee_os.html ; English https://www.dh.gov.hk/english/useful/useful_fee/useful_fee_os.html ; the government announcement cited https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202510/31/P2025103100371.htm (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The Social Hygiene Service comprising social hygiene clinics and dermatology clinics: Department of Health, "Sexually Transmitted Infections and Skin Diseases", the page self-dated 二零一九年十月一日, Chinese https://www.dh.gov.hk/tc_chi/main/main_chp/sexually.html ; English https://www.dh.gov.hk/english/main/main_chp/sexually.html (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The complete original of the dermatology clinic page's four lines on fees, referral, confidentiality and remarks, including 「所有新症均需醫生介紹信」, 「所有新 / 舊症均需預約」 and the three routes to a new case appointment (in person, by post, and GovHK): Department of Health, "Clinics Providing Dermatological Services", the page self-dated 二零二五年六月二日, Chinese https://www.dh.gov.hk/tc_chi/tele/tele_chc/tele_chc_dc.html ; English https://www.dh.gov.hk/english/tele/tele_chc/tele_chc_dc.html (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The social hygiene clinics' 「合資格人士費用全免。 毋須預約或醫生介紹信」: Department of Health, "Clinics Providing Social Hygiene Services (Female)", the page self-dated 二零二五年二月三日 https://www.dh.gov.hk/tc_chi/tele/tele_chc/tele_chc_shcf.html ; "(Male)", the page self-dated 二零二五年一月一日 https://www.dh.gov.hk/tc_chi/tele/tele_chc/tele_chc_shcm.html (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• Each dermatology clinic's new case appointment month and 「更新日期截至 2026 年 6 月 30 日，實際約期的情況或有不同」: Department of Health Social Hygiene Service, "New Skin Case Appointment Status", Chinese https://www.dh.gov.hk/tc_chi/tele/tele_chc/files/New_Skin_Case_Appointment_Status_chi.pdf ; English https://www.dh.gov.hk/english/tele/tele_chc/files/New_Skin_Case_Appointment_Status_en.pdf (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• All new cases of severe skin disease seen within 8 weeks under the service pledge in 2022 and 2023 (medians of 2.7 and 2.9 weeks), other stable new cases with medians of 90 and 93 weeks and overall longest waits of 203 and 183 weeks; and part (four) (whose subject is eczema patients) 「至於病情較嚴重或緊急的患者，醫生可以把個案轉介至衞生署社會衞生服務轄下的皮膚科專科門診」: Legislative Council Finance Committee, Examination of Estimates of Expenditure 2024-25, written reply HHB094 (question 1841), Health Bureau, Chinese https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr2024/chinese/fc/fc/w_q/hhb-c.pdf ; English https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr2024/english/fc/fc/w_q/hhb-e.pdf (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The content of the chest service: Department of Health, "Tuberculosis and Chest Service", Chinese https://www.dh.gov.hk/tc_chi/main/main_chp/tuber.html ; English https://www.dh.gov.hk/english/main/main_chp/tuber.html (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The Greater Bay Area pilot scheme extended to 31 March 2027; its target group of 「已預約醫管局指定專科門診或家庭醫學門診覆診的病人」; its coverage of thirteen outpatient categories (麻醉科（只包括痛症科門診）, 心胸外科, 臨床腫瘤科, 耳鼻喉科, 眼科, 婦科, 內科, 神經外科, 產科, 矯形及創傷外科（骨科）, 兒科, 外科 and 家庭醫學門診); 「須根據在醫管局覆診的門診類別到港大深圳醫院對應的科室」; the co-payment of 100 renminbi, the cap of 2,000 renminbi and the usage period of 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027; the exclusion of episodic illness, inpatient or day inpatient services and accident and emergency services; the requirement to register with eHealth; new participants applying to HKU-Shenzhen Hospital; the referral arrangement for returning to Hong Kong; and cumulative participation of more than 6 000 patients by the end of February 2026, over 60% aged 65 or above: government press release, "Government extends Pilot Scheme on Supporting Patients of Hospital Authority in the Greater Bay Area", 31 March 2026, Chinese https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202603/31/P2026033100686.htm ; English https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202603/31/P2026033100709.htm (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• More than 5 900 patients in the pilot scheme by the end of January 2026 with more than 25 000 cumulative attendances; the voucher pilot's more than 32 200 older people, 74 956 transactions and about 79.56 million Hong Kong dollars; the 21 service points; 「並無意將醫療服務的主體責任轉移至鄰近城市」; and the government keeping no data on cross-boundary care outside government schemes: Legislative Council question three, "Facilitating the public's cross-boundary use of medical services", written reply by the Secretary for Health, 25 February 2026, Chinese https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202602/25/P2026022500433.htm ; English https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202602/25/P2026022500444.htm (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• Voucher eligibility (the whole sentence, including 「但若該長者是憑藉其已獲入境或逗留准許而獲簽發香港身份證，而該准許已經逾期或不再有效則除外」), the 2,000 dollars a year and the accumulation cap of 8,000 dollars: Elderly Health Care Voucher, "Eligible Elders and Annual Voucher Amount", the page carrying no revision date of its own, Chinese https://www.hcv.gov.hk/tc/hcvs/service_area.html ; English https://www.hcv.gov.hk/en/hcvs/service_area.html (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• Question 8 on vouchers not applying to day surgical procedures (the question itself naming cataract surgery and endoscopy); question 7 on minor surgery in a private outpatient setting; question 5 on inpatient services; question 6 on private hospital accident and emergency services being usable where outpatient; question 3 on services provided by charities, non-profits and other non-governmental organisations; question 17 on the optometric sub-cap of 2,000 dollars every two years and question 19 on the quota not accumulating into the next two-year period; and question 39 on the reward pilot scheme of 2024 to 2026, its 1,000-dollar threshold, its 500-dollar reward and its expiry rule: Elderly Health Care Voucher, "Frequently Asked Questions", the footer self-noted 「衞生署醫療券事務科／二零二六年六月」, Chinese https://www.hcv.gov.hk/tc/faqs/faqs_vr.html ; English https://www.hcv.gov.hk/en/faqs/faqs_vr.html (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The two tiers of Hong Kong Polytechnic University Optometry Clinic fees, registered optometrist (including vision training $550/$750, standard design lens fitting $450 with post-fitting follow-up $350, and advanced design lens fitting (including keratoconus lenses) $800 with post-fitting follow-up $450) and intern optometrist (all six items, each $300): that clinic's fee page (the page carrying no effective date of its own), Chinese https://www.polyu.edu.hk/tc/so/optometry-clinic/fee/ ; English https://www.polyu.edu.hk/so/optometry-clinic/fee/ (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The Yan Chai Hospital Board Ophthalmology Clinic's consultation fee of 550 dollars, all six minor procedure charges (chalazion incision, epilation of ingrowing eyelashes, removal of an intraocular foreign body, syringing of the tear duct, probing of the tear duct, removal of conjunctival concretions), additional drug charges of 30 dollars per item, the discount note for older people and staff, the chalazion surcharge note 「割眼瘡收費只包1顆眼瘡，每1顆額外眼瘡需要$400附加收費」, the service hours, cash only, and that the clinic is not the Yan Chai Hospital under the Hospital Authority; and the English page describing the consultation fee as including one medication: Yan Chai Hospital Board Ophthalmology Clinic page, the fee adjustment date appearing in the Chinese page notice 「(2025年6月2日起)」, Chinese https://www.yanchai.org.hk/services/medical-services/ophthalmology/yan-chai-hospital-board-ophthalmology-clinic ; English https://www.yanchai.org.hk/en/services/medical-services/ophthalmology/yan-chai-hospital-board-ophthalmology-clinic (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The two legs of the Tung Wah free outpatient waiver and their eligibility conditions (family medicine clinics 「不包括綜合診所」, attendance and prescription fees, applicable to all eligible persons; specialist outpatient clinics 「不包括綜合診所及專職醫療診所」, attendance fee only, applicable only to those aged 75 or above or 12 or below); and the three hospitals being Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, Tung Wah Hospital and Kwong Wah Hospital: government press release, "Hospital Authority announces enhanced application arrangements under the medical fee waiver mechanism", 31 October 2025 (issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority), Chinese https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202510/31/P2025103100372.htm ; English https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202510/31/P2025103100494.htm (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• 「免費醫療服務／肩負救病拯危的使命，本院為有需要人士提供免費的中西醫療普通科門診和西醫住院服務」: Tung Wah Group of Hospitals medical services introduction page https://www.tungwah.org.hk/medical (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The application routes 「本港市民如欲申請免費病床，可提交接受綜合社會保障援助（俗稱綜援）的有關證明；沒有接受綜援而有經濟困難者，則可向醫務社工申請並提交有關經濟狀況證明」: Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, "Free Medical Service", Chinese https://www.tungwah.org.hk/medical/mh-introduction/free-medical/ ; English https://www.tungwah.org.hk/en/medical/mh-introduction/free-medical/ (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The 600 free beds (200 government-funded and 400 Tung Wah-funded); free Chinese medicine internal medicine and bone-setting consultations and the first two doses of Chinese medicine; 「專科門診則只涵蓋診症費，藥費按照政府共付制收取」; pathology testing and non-urgent radiological imaging not being included; those in financial difficulty being able to 「向醫院的醫務社工申請醫管局醫療費用豁免」; and that document's family medicine row not carrying the 「不包括綜合診所」 exclusion: Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, Revision of the Free Medical Service Scheme — Frequently Asked Questions PDF (December 2025) https://www.tungwah.org.hk/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/東華三院免費醫療服務計劃修訂常見問題.pdf (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The two membership conditions (「持有根據《人事登記規例》（香港法例第177章）所簽發香港身份證或《豁免登記證明書》的人士，但若該人士是憑藉其已獲入境或逗留准許而獲簽發香港身份證，而該准許已經逾期或不再有效則除外；或為香港居民的11歲以下兒童」; 「同意加入『電子健康系統』的人士」); the District Health Centre charges (question 11: a government subsidy of 250 Hong Kong dollars for a medical consultation with the balance paid by the user; a co-payment cap of 150 Hong Kong dollars for physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dietetics, optometric assessment, speech therapy, podiatry and medical laboratory services; 100 Hong Kong dollars per session for the Hospital Authority-referred community rehabilitation programme; and a co-payment cap of 150 Hong Kong dollars for Chinese medicine services); free membership registration; free group activities and individual services by nurses, pharmacists and social workers; caps on subsidised sessions with the full cost payable beyond them; civil servants and Hospital Authority staff paying the co-payments; payment by voucher; and standalone allied health services requiring a family doctor's referral: District Health Centre "General Public" page, the page carrying no revision date of its own, Chinese https://www.dhc.gov.hk/tc/general_public.html ; English https://www.dhc.gov.hk/en/general_public.html (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• 「24小時急診服務 — 急診診症費用 $1,200」, and the remarks on the same fee table 「上述診金僅供參考，所需費用須視乎病人實際情況及個別醫生和治療師而定」 and 「其他費用如小手術、藥費、化驗費等另計，歡迎向門診收費處查詢其他項目收費」: Hong Kong Adventist Hospital – Stubbs Road outpatient fee table, the document self-dated effective 7/7/2026, Chinese https://www.hkah.org.hk/tc/fees-and-charges/out-patient-consultation-fee/out-patient-consultation-fee-2 ; English https://www.hkah.org.hk/en/fees-and-charges/out-patient-consultation-fee/out-patient-consultation-fee-2 (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• Remark 1 「診症費不包括藥物、注射、換症、化驗、X光、小手術及其他施行程序，文件填寫及打印費用等」; 「如意外受傷、工傷或緊急危疾病人，本門診會安排到明愛醫院急症室診治」 (remark 2); and the outpatient department's service periods and fees (Monday to Saturday 08:00–19:59 at $280; Monday to Saturday 20:00–22:00 and Sundays, public holidays, typhoon signal 8 or above and black rainstorm warnings at $390; the document carrying no 24-hour period): Precious Blood Hospital (Caritas) outpatient service fee table, the document self-dated effective 1/1/2025, https://www.pbh.hk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/002_門診服務收費表-V4-2025.pdf (retrieved 3 August 2026)
• The median net consultation fee at private doctors of 300 dollars and the complete distribution of table 4.4b (889 300 consultations in the 30 days before the survey; 97.2% with a known net fee; 0 dollars 24.2%, 1 to under 100 dollars 3.9%, 100 to under 200 dollars 7.3%, 200 to under 300 dollars 9.1%, 300 to under 500 dollars 30.8%, and 500 dollars or above 24.7%); and the definition of the net fee as net of employer and insurer reimbursements and voucher payments: Census and Statistics Department, Thematic Household Survey Report No. 78 — Health Status of Hong Kong Residents, paragraph 4.21 and table 4.4b, the survey conducted December 2022 to April 2023 and published January 2024 (one bilingual document) https://www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/data/stat_report/product/B1130201/att/B11302782024XXXXB0100.pdf (retrieved 3 August 2026)

#Further reading

• On this platform: Public hospital fees and waiting times from 2026
• On this platform: The Chronic Disease Co-Care Scheme
• On this platform: our article on cataract surgery fees
• On this platform: Eczema: public dermatology is in the Department of Health, and how the drug subsidies work
• On this platform: Family doctor or specialist?
• Hospital Authority specialist outpatient waiting times: https://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_view_content.asp?Content_ID=214177&Lang=CHIB5&Dimension=100&Ver=HTML
• Hospital Authority public-private partnership programmes: https://www4.ha.org.hk/ppp
• Fees and charges for public health services under the Department of Health: https://www.dh.gov.hk/tc_chi/useful/useful_fee/useful_fee_os.html
• Elderly Health Care Voucher: https://www.hcv.gov.hk/tc/
• On this platform: Presbyopia: correction and costs