As the Emergency Response Level stood down, some of our patient and staff facilities could fully open finally. The staff music group recently had their first performance, which brought a breath of fresh air to the hospital. Patients could also enjoy live broadcast of the show in ward.

The society has now returned to normalcy, but what exactly is "normal" to us? When COVID-19 broke out, we had been open for just about a year. Many plans were put on hold and services took alternative modes. Some staff even have not experienced the pre-COVID operation. Nowadays, everybody is talking about "revenge" travel and spending. Our clinical and non-clinical activities also come around suddenly, which adds much workload to all the teams.

While making up for the lost time, we must take this opportunity to regroup and reprioritize. When deploying manpower, patient service should surely come first, but resuming clinical exchange and training is also important. At the same time, some novel ways born during the pandemic, such as tele-consultation, could be further developed to improve efficiency and quality.

Dr Lee Tsz-leung, Hospital Chief Executive