Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ2: North District Hospital medical incident
Following is a question by the Hon Wong Sing-chi and a reply by the Secretary
for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (November
12).
Question:
This September, a medical incident occurred in North District Hospital under the
Hospital Authority (HA), in which a left mastectomy operation was
inappropriately performed on a patient. The incident was caused by a confirmed
malignant specimen of another patient being mistaken as taken from that patient.
In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(a) it knows if HA has assessed whether the above medical incident involved
deficiency in the system or human error, what procedures are presently in place
to ensure that patients' laboratory and examination reports will not be mixed
up, and what improvement measures HA will take to avoid the recurrence of
similar incidents in the future;
(b) it knows if HA will make compensation to the patient concerned and her
family regarding the medical incident, and what criteria or mechanism are in
place to ensure that the amount of compensation is fair and reasonable; and
(c) the authorities will consider setting up an independent mechanism to handle
matters relating to complaints, litigations and compensation arising from
medical incidents?
Reply:
President,
(a) The Hospital Authority (HA) has all along attached great importance to the
procedures for verifying patients' identity and put in place established
guidelines and codes of practice to ensure that patients' identity, records and
information, procedures of the operation as well as the correct location of the
operations are verified before any operation or procedure is carried out.
Meanwhile, most of the laboratories at the acute hospitals under HA, including
the one in the North District Hospital, have been accredited under the Hong Kong
Laboratory Accreditation Scheme or by overseas accreditation organisations. A
set of quality management measures has also been put in place for managing the
procedures and flow of pathological tests, including patients' sample tests and
reports. Information relating to the tests has also been computerised for
greater accuracy and access efficiency.
The Advanced Incident Reporting System (AIRS) established by HA seeks to ensure
immediate and appropriate handling of sentinel events, with a view to minimising
harm to patients and the impact of such events. After the occurrence of this
medical incident, the hospital in question has reported to the HA Head Office
and set up an investigation panel to conduct investigation on the incident in
accordance with the AIRS guidelines. It has also immediately explained the
incident to the patient and her family, checked and understood their need and
demand and provided them with suitable assistance. HA will seek to prevent the
recurrence of similar incidents in future through experience sharing among
hospitals and their staff.
(b) HA always adheres to its patient-oriented service culture and encourages and
assists its healthcare professionals to report and appropriately handle the
medical incidents. HA also makes public the causes and details of medical
incidents in a transparent and open manner and ensures that the cases of
affected patients are handled fairly and impartially. There are established
procedures in HA to handle claims for compensation and insurance companies will
be notified of such claims. The case will be followed-up through loss adjuster
or HA's legal adviser, or be subject to the decision by the court. The amount of
compensation payable will be determined based on precedents.
For this incident, HA has maintained communication with the patient's family on
how to settle the matter, with a view to making the most suitable arrangements.
HA will continue to monitor the medical incidents and promote the report of
medical incidents to the public, in order to strengthen the public's confidence
in HA's services, safeguard the integrity of our public healthcare system, and
prevent the recurrence of similar incidents.
(c) Since its establishment, HA has set up an effective two-tier complaint
system for the proper handling of medical complaints. All views or initial
complaints about hospital services will be handled and responded by the hospital
directly. If the complainant wishes to put forward further views or is not
satisfied with the handling/outcome of his/her complaint, he/she can file an
appeal with the Public Complaints Committee (PCC) of HA. The PCC is comprised of
members from different sectors of the community and responsible for considering
and deciding on all appeal cases independently. Members of the PCC are not HA
employees, and the PCC is not affiliated to any hospital or operational
departments/service units. As such, the PCC can handle all complaints fairly and
impartially as an independent body. To enhance its transparency, the PCC
regularly reports its work to the public and release statistical data on the
complaints received, including the types and findings of the complaint cases.
Apart from HA's complaint system as mentioned above, members of the public may
also lodge their complaints with other organisations such as the Medical Council
of Hong Kong. HA has been cooperating fully with these organisations to resolve
complaints effectively.
The current complaint redress system is effective and can properly handle
complaints on medical services. There is no need to set up other independent
mechanism to handle these complaints.
Ends/Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Issued at HKT 11:51
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