About Us
About Us
Our Service Highlights
Our Professional Team
Our Achievements
Medical Journals and Research Papers

 
Our department provides anaesthetic services to United Christian Hospital and pain management services to the Kowloon East Cluster (KEC). We are an accredited specialist training centre for both Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine.
 
Our operating complex comprises 13 operating theatres and provides 24-hour emergency, obstetrics, airway management and acute pain services. Our surgical specialties include orthopaedics, head and neck, hepatobiliary, breast, upper gastrointestinal, colorectal, dentomaxillofacial, ear, nose and throat, ophthalmology, obstetrics and gynaecology, and pain medicine. Our one-stop Day Surgery Centre has one of the highest rates of attendance of any unit in Hong Kong.
 
The KEC Pain Management Centre provides integrated pain management for various chronic and acute pain conditions, including cancer pain, post-traumatic pain, post-operative pain, and other intractable chronic pain conditions. Our services include multidisciplinary pain consultation services, a pain management nurse clinic, the STEPS pain management programme, and advanced interventional procedures (including cryotherapy, radiofrequency lesioning, and intrathecal analgesia).

Our Milestone

Anaesthesia & Operating Services

2024

  • Prehabilitation and Rehabilitation programme in Community (pilot) – Gynae Oncology and ENT Cancer
  • HA Go Telehealth Anaesthetic Consultation Clinic

2022-23

  • Multi-disciplinary Prehabilitation Programme

2021

  • Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing
  • Teleconsultation for anaesthetic clinic during COVID outbreak

2018-20

  • Enhanced Recovery After Surgery programme – ENT and Gynaecology team
  • Blood Conservation Protocol (e.g. IV Iron)
  • ANA Clinic Spirometry

2014-17

  • Enhanced Recovery After Surgery programme – Joint Replacement Surgery, Colorectal, Upper gastrointestinal team
  • Anaesthesia Echo clinic
  • Same Day Admission for ambulatory trauma patients waiting for emergency operation
  • Child Life Specialist for paediatric patients

2010-12

  • TKO patients to UCH for surgery as Day Surgery / Same Day Admission

2003

  • Primary Nursing care from pre-admission topost-operative recovery & discharge care

2000

  • Introduce Type & Screen Blood Bank Service to major operations for Day Surgery and Same Day Admission

1997

  • Same Day Admission Service

1996

  • Pre-anaesthetic clinic for Day Surgery patients

1995

  • First one-stop multidisciplinary pre-operative team in HA (Surgery, O&T, ENT, Eye, O&G & Maxillofacial)

Kowloon East Cluster (KEC) Pain Management Centre

2020-23

  • IMSN Pain Management Clinic
  • Telehealth Pain Assessment Clinic
  • Augmented Reality (AR) Therapy in Nurse clinic
  • Nurse led Yoga Programme
  • Cryotherapy

2017

  • Nurse Pain Assessment Clinic
  • Prolotherapy PRP

2015

  • Multi-Disciplinary Steps Pain Program
  • Procedure Specific Analgesia Guidelines
    (Joint Arthroplasty/ERSA)
  • Intrathecal Pump for Cancer Pain Management

2012-14

  • First HA Pain Nurse Consultative Service in HK
  • Electronic APS System
  • Navigational Pain Procedure

2011

  • 1st Overseas Accredited Pain Fellowship Training Centre in Hong Kong
    (2nd in Asia)

2008

  • Full Time Clinical Psychologist & TCM Practitioner
  • Advanced Interventional Procedure

2000

  • Full time Pain Nurse
  • Haven of Hope Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Programme Collaboration

1997-98

  • Chronic Pain Services
  • Acupuncture Services
  • Multidisciplinary Hospice Team Member

1993

  • Acute Pain Services established in UCH
  • 1st Hospital to use PCA machines in Hong Kong

Anaesthesia & Operating Services provides:

Elective and emergency anaesthesia and operating services

  • ~15,000 operations annually, with ~10,000 anaesthesia procedures
  • 70% of elective is Same Day Admission (SDA) or Day Surgery (DS) cases

One-stop integrated perioperative anaesthetic consultative services

  • Nurse Pre-anaesthetic Assessment Clinic
  • Specialist led consultation clinic
  • HA Go Telehealth Anaesthetic Consultation Clinic
  • Fast track referral and workup
    • Routine investigation (blood test, ECG etc.) completed in clinic
    • Echocardiography
    • Cardiopulmonary exercise test
    • Urgent medical referral
    • Blood conservation protocol (e.g. IV/oral Iron)
  • Post-operative allied health care

Comprehensive perioperative Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) programme

Protocol driven perioperative pain management through multi-modal analgesia, advanced regional nerve block and patient controlled analgesia.
 
Airway management
 
Provision of remote anaesthesia services, e.g. electroconvulsive therapy

Kowloon East Cluster Pain Management Centre

  • Provide Comprehensive Multi-disciplinary (Western & Chinese Medicine) Pain Management
  • Pioneer Pain Nurse Consultative Clinic Services in Hospital Authority
  • Conduct the Multi-Disciplinary Pain Self-Management Programme (STEPS)
  • Provide On-Site Acupuncture Service by Chinese Medicine Practitioners
  • Provide Advanced Ultrasound and Fluoroscopic Guided Pain Interventions
  • First Local and Overseas Accredited Pain Fellowship Training Centre in Hong Kong (2011)
Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test

A modern and SMART Operating Theatre

Robot Transport

Our Pain team comprises of pain specialist, anaesthesiologist, orthopaedic surgeon, rheumatologist, palliative physician, pain nurses, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, clinical psychologist, social worker, clerical and supporting staff.

FFPMANZCA Pain Centre Inspection (Aug 2018)

STEPS Multi-disciplinary Pain Programme

This is an intensive 14 days 100-hr pain self-management Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) programme.
Pain Nurse Education session

2025

  • UCH Trauma Team was awarded KEC Merit Team Award 2025

2023

  • UCH Comprehensive Contemporary Lower GI Service was awarded KEC Merit Team Award 2023

2020

  • KEC Upper Gastro-intestinal, Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Team was awarded KEC Outstanding Team Award 2020

2019

  • Kowloon East Cluster Pain Management Centre was awarded the Kowloon East Cluster Outstanding Team Award 2019
  • Kowloon East Cluster Pain Management Centre was awarded the Hospital Authority Outstanding Team Merit Award 2019

2018

  • United Christian Hospital Day Surgery (OPTIMISE) team was awarded the Kowloon East Cluster Outstanding Team Award 2018
Ho AM, Lim HS, Yim AP, Karmakar MK, Lee TW. The resolution of ST segment depressions after high right thoracic paravertebral block during general anesthesia. Anesth Analg. 2002 Jul;95(1):227-8
Huey S Lim, Phoon P Chen, Tony C M Wong, Tony Gin, Emma Wong, Ide S F Chan, Josephine Chu. Validation of the Chinese version of pain self-efficacy questionnaire. Anesth Analg 2007 Apr;104(4):918-23.
Wong WS, Lam HM, Chow YF, Chen PP, Lim HS, Wong S, Fielding R. The effects of anxiety sensitivity, pain hypervigilance, and pain catastrophizing on quality of life outcomes of patients with chronic pain: a preliminary, cross-sectional analysis. Qual Life Res. 2014 Oct;23(8):2333-41
Wong WS, Lam HM, Chen PP, Chow YF, Wong S, Lim HS, Jensen MP, Fielding R. The fear avoidance model of chronic pain: assessing the role of neuroticism and negative affect in pain catastrophizing using structural equation modeling. Int J Behav Med. 2015 Feb;22(1):118-31
TL Chow, WY Kwan, KP Tsui, WM Yip, CKL Chu, KH Njo, HS Lim. Day surgery for total or completion thyroidectomy: The first report in Hong Kong. Surgical Practice 2019; 23(4):95-100
Liu DCY, Koo TH, Wong JKK, Wong YH, Fung KSC, Chan Y, Lim HS. Adapting re-usable elastomeric respirators to utilise anaesthesia circuit filters using a 3D-printed adaptor - a potential alternative to address N95 shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anaesthesia. 2020 Aug;75(8):1022-1027. doi: 10.1111/anae.15108. Epub 2020 May 26. PMID: 32348561; PMCID: PMC7267584. 
Wong RWK, Lim HS, Chan OK, Leung KL. Anaesthetic Management of a Patient with Suspected Tracheal Amyloidosis. Update in Anaesthesia, WFSA-D-21-00014, 117-120
Wong DHT, Tang EWH, Njo A, Chu CKL, Chau SKY, Chow TL, Lim HS, Fung KSC, Li KKW. Risk stratification protocol to reduce consumption of personal protective equipment for emergency surgeries during COVID-19 pandemic. Hong Kong Med J. 2020 Jun;26(3):252-254. doi: 10.12809/hkmj208533. Epub 2020 May 5. PMID: 32366724.
Lam CY, Lim HS, Lam CC, Leung I, Liong T. Venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for an emergent ‘can’t intubate’ scenario: A Case Report. Update in Anaesthesia, WFSA. August 1 2024.
Ip JYC, Lo KM. Perioperative management of patients with aspiration risk. Anaesth Intensive Care Med. 2024 Aug;25(8):550-4.