Prince of Wales Hospital is a large of Tertiary referral hospital and large of teaching hospital from Faculty of Medicine in Chinese University of Hong Kong in Sha Tin, New Territories in Hong Kong..
Named after King Charles III at that time as Prince of Wales, and officially opened on 1 November 1982 by Katharine, Duchess of Kent, the hospital went into operation in 1 May 1984. The hospital now provides 1,807 hospital beds and 24-hour accident and emergency service with about 5,500 staff. It is also the regional hospital responsible for the Eastern New Territories serving Sha Tin, Tai Po, North New Territories, Sai Kung and the outlying islands in East New Territories.
The hospital is supported by the Li Ka-shing Specialist Clinics for specialty outpatient services. The Hospital Governing Committee is the ultimate decision-making authority of the hospital. The current chief executive of the hospital is Dr. Beatrice Cheng.
History
Planning and construction
In 1974, the Hong Kong government proposed the development of the second medical school in the territory (the first being University of Hong Kong) and a new teaching hospital in Sha Tin, and that became the Faculty of Medicine of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Prince of Wales Hospital.
The construction of the Prince of Wales Hospital started on 1 December 1979, scheduled to be completed by September 1982, and be operational by May 1983. The plan was to allow the first batch of medical students admitted in October 1981 to start their clinical training at the hospital in July 1983. Unfortunately, the construction was delayed by a year, the hospital was finally completed in November 1983 and went into operation on 1 May 1984.
Despite the delay and change of the schedule, the official opening ceremony was held on 1 November 1982 as originally planned. It was performed by Katharine, Duchess of Kent.
Due to the delay, temporary arrangements were made with United Christian Hospital for clinical teaching of the first batch of medical students, and the teaching activities were gradually transferred from United Christian Hospital to Prince of Wales Hospital.
Early years
In 1991, under a reform of the healthcare system, the management of the hospital (and other public hospitals) was transferred from the former Medical and Health Department to the Hospital Authority.
Until the mid-1990s, the hospital was responsible for providing medical services to the nearly 25,000 Vietnamese boat people at Whitehead Detention Centre in nearby Wu Kai Sha, once considered the world's largest prison. In 1990, Vietnamese women made up a third of patients within the hospital's maternity unit, leading to allegations of strained hospital resources and a subsequent scheme to transfer many pregnant refugees to Queen Elizabeth Hospital instead. By 1994, some Sha Tin residents voiced dissatisfaction that their hospital bore the weight of the refugee's medical needs, but then-hospital chief executive Alison Reid responded that the boat people comprised only five per cent of monthly visits to A & E and that the local population was "not being disadvantaged". Still, in the same year, the hospital proposed setting up a 24-hour clinic inside the refugee camp. The situation ended with the resettlement or repatriation of the refugees under the Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The Sir Yue Kong Pao Centre for Cancer and the Lady Pao Children's Cancer Centre was officially opened by Charles, Prince of Wales in November 1994. Built with a donation of HK$120 million from Mr and Mrs Peter Woo, and named after Mrs Woo's parents, Sir Yue-Kong Pao and Lady Pao, the centre provides cancer treatments and resources for cancer research and education.
The South Wing of the Li Ka Shing Specialist Outpatient Clinic was completed in June 1997, began operating in the following month, and was officially opened on 29 May 1998 by Li Ka-shing, who donated HK$21 million to its establishment. With a total floor area of 7,930 square metres, the clinic provides additional space to cope with increasing demand for specialist outpatient services in the region.
SARS epidemic
In 2003, a severe epidemic severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) occurred in multiple countries. The epidemic in Hong Kong started with the outbreak in Prince of Wales Hospital on 10 March 2003 when 11 healthcare workers in ward 8A (later renamed 8H) had shown symptoms of atypical pneumonia at the same time. Epidemiologic investigation had linked these cases to a patient who was admitted to ward 8A on 4 March 2003. The patient had previously visited an ill professor from Guangzhou.