Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ22: Medical complaints and claims arising from medical incidents
Following is a question by the Dr Hon Leung Ka-lau and a written reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today
(January 27):
Question:
Regarding medical complaints and claims of medical negligence received by the
Hospital Authority (HA), will the Government inform this Council whether it
knows:
(1) the number of claims of medical negligence received by each public hospital
in each of the past five years (i.e. from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2015),
and set out a breakdown by case type in tables of the same format as Table 1;
(2) among the complaints handled by each public hospital in each of the past
five years, the number of cases which were found to be substantiated and needed
follow-up actions, the respective numbers of cases in which different types of
healthcare personnel (i.e. doctors, nurses and allied health professionals)
involved were punished and the forms of punishment they received, and set out a
breakdown of those cases by type and rank of such personnel in tables of the
same format as Table 2;
(3) given that complainants may appeal to the Public Complaints Committee (PCC)
of HA against the decisions made by public hospitals in respective of their
complaints, the number of such appeal cases received by PCC in each of the past
five years; among them, the number of those found to be substantiated or partly
substantiated (set out in Table 3);
(4) the number of claims of medical negligence in each of the past five years,
broken down by different handling methods/results (set out in Table 4);
(5) the number of claims for which compensation was paid to the patients
concerned or their families by HA in each of the past five years, and the
respective total amounts of compensation paid and relevant costs incurred for
various types of claims (set out in Table 5); and
(6) given that the target response time set by HA for handling complaints is
within six weeks (for complex cases, within three months), while that by PCC is
within three to six months (possibly longer time for complex cases), among the
complaints received by each public hospital and by PCC in each of the past five
years, the respective numbers of those in which such targets were not met (set
out in Table 6); and the reasons for failure to meet the targets?
Reply:
President,
The Hospital Authority (HA) has a two-tier system to handle complaints from
patients and the public. The first tier is at the hospital level which covers
the handling of all complaints lodged for the first time. If the complainants
are not satisfied with the outcome of the complaint, they may appeal to the
second tier, that is the Public Complaints Committee (PCC) of HA. PCC is a
committee established under the HA Board responsible for independently
considering and deciding on all appeal cases and putting forward recommendations
on service improvement to HA. Members of PCC are not employees of HA and, by
virtue of their independent status, will handle all complaints fairly and
impartially. My reply to various parts of the question raised by the Dr Hon
Leung Ka-lau on the medical complaints and claims arising from medical incidents
received by HA is as follows:
(1) HA has not classified the cases of claims arising from medical incidents by
nature. Table 7 sets out the number of claims received by HA by cluster in the
past five years.
(2) One of the main objectives of HA's complaint mechanism is to, during the
course of complaint handling, help resolve problems for the complainants and
improve service delivery. Hence, when HA handles the cases, the emphasis is not
on whether the cases are substantiated. In fact, whenever room for improvement
in the delivery of service is identified in the handling of complaints, HA will
take appropriate follow-up actions irrespective of whether the cases are
substantiated or not. HA does not keep statistics on whether the complaint cases
handled at the first-tier level are substantiated or not.
HA has put in place an established mechanism to handle disciplinary matters of
its staff. Disciplinary actions taken are not confined to cases relating to
medical complaints and claims. HA will consider the seriousness of the incidents
and take appropriate disciplinary actions. Such disciplinary actions include
counselling, verbal or written warnings, and dismissal for cases of gross
misconduct.
HA does not maintain statistics on disciplinary actions by type and by rank of
staff. Table 8 sets out the number of disciplinary actions taken by HA in the
past five year.
(3) Table 9 sets out the statistics on the appeal cases handled by PCC of HA in
the past five years.
(4) and (5) Table 10 set out the statistics on cases of claims received by HA in
respect of medical incidents in the past five years.
(6) The hospitals and PCC will, upon receipt of the complaint cases, handle them
as soon as possible. As each case varies in complexity, the time required for
handling individual cases is different.
Some complaint cases cannot be concluded within the target response time
possibly because of the involvement of several hospitals or several departments
within a hospital in the case, the need for multiple clarification or evidence
collection during investigation, the involvement of complex clinical management
in the case, or the need to seek advice from independent medical experts.
Table 11 sets out the number of complaint cases handled by PCC and HA by
clusters that were completed beyond the target response time.
Ends/Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Issued at HKT 17:23
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