The Department of Health has assured residents that public dental clinics will handle patients under a new online system with flexibility. The department on Monday began operating an oversubscription mechanism as well as a wait-list mechanism for online bookings. People who are allocated a spot for dental services are required to arrive at the clinic by 8.30am for registration. If they fail to do so, staff will reach out to people on the waiting list. Dr Kitty Hse, the consultant in-charge of the department's dental services, said on an RTHK radio programme that staff will contact patients on the waiting list from 9:30am, and they have to arrive by 11:30am. "The people on the waiting list have mainly put that clinic as their first preference, and are 65 or over, so they get the highest priority. That means they should be living nearby or not too far from the clinic. So we expect them to come in within two hours," she said. "But they don't have to worry... if they confirm that they'll show up but may be slightly late, our colleagues will handle it flexibly and will still offer dental services to them." Hse also pointed out the no-show rate of patients dropped from 31 percent at the start of the online registration programme last Monday to 20 percent later in the week. Speaking on the same programme, Ivan Lin, a community organiser at the Society for Community Organisation, said some elderly people struggled with the new system. "Since registration moved online, many elderly people say they don't know if they'll be able to get a slot. In the past, they could queue overnight for one or two days and find out if they could get a spot, but now they really don't know. They don't know how many attempts it will take before they're allocated a slot," he said. Lin urged the government to fast-track implementation of the Community Dental Support Programme which targets the underprivileged. The scheme was unveiled in last year's policy address.
