The demand for hospital services rebounded after the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). In 2004, there were 844 000 discharges, 6 048 000 specialist out-patient attendances and 5 278 000 general out-patient attendances. Accident and emergency departments of major public hospitals had 2 070 000 attendances, or 5 656 per day.

The international trend has been to focus on the development of ambulatory and community care programmes. In line with this development, starting from 2001-02, the allocation of public funding for public hospital services has been changed from the facility-based approach to a population-based approach to encourage the mobilisation of resources from institutions to community settings. The new funding arrangement has facilitated the further development of the Hospital Authority's ambulatory and community outreach programmes. In 2004, the Hospital Authority continued to step up training for family physicians, community paediatricians, community physicians, general practitioners and community allied health practitioners to support the development of the community mode of health care delivery. The Authority made 780 600 home visits to provide rehabilitative and palliative care services as well as 581 000 outreach attendances for elderly and psychiatric patients. It also introduced two new programmes on fall prevention and hypertension control. To strengthen its ambulatory services, the HA is remodelling the Tang Shiu Kin Hospital into an ambulatory care centre which is due to be completed in early 2005.

Projects in the hospital development programme progressed satisfactorily. On-going projects included the redevelopment of Castle Peak Hospital (Phase 2), the construction of a radiotherapy centre and redevelopment of the Accident and Emergency Department of Princess Margaret Hospital, the redevelopment of staff quarters at the Tuen Mun Hospital into a rehabilitation block, and the remodelling of the Tuen Mun Polyclinic Building into an ophthalmic centre. To enhance the preparedness of public hospitals for a possible outbreak of infectious diseases in the future, works for additional isolation facilities commenced in 2003. As at the end of 2004, there were 1 415 additional isolation beds available for use in public hospitals. The building works of a new infectious disease block at Princess Margaret Hospital commenced in March 2004.