Latest patient safety prescription for Hong Kong hospitals is much needed

South China Morning Post

a day ago

Hong Kong's public healthcare system may not necessarily be seen as the world's best because of the
long waits and crowds. That view, however, does not do justice to the general high standards and professionalism among the medical staff as well as the affordable medical bills. Unfortunately, there have also been isolated
mishaps or blunders , which seemingly have become more common as the sector grapples with staff shortages and a fast-ageing population.
As part of a revamp to enhance patient safety, the senior management of public hospitals is to be
held accountable for medical incidents along with the frontline staff. The Hospital Authority will set up committees to conduct comprehensive assessments of senior management officers' performance, with patient safety added as an independent core assessment. How individuals handle patient safety incidents will be reflected in their regular performance records.
The new approach is a response to 31 recommendations
put forward last November by a special committee appointed to do a 'full body check' of the authority after medical blunders at public hospitals described as a 'systematic issue' by the city's health minister. Earlier this year,
hi-tech tools , such as vital sign monitors for high-risk patients and smart oxygen tanks that sound an alarm when levels run low, were prescribed to help minimise human errors and oversights.
Long overdue as they are, the latest measures underline a lack of clarity in terms of accountability over medical blunders. Previously, some department heads thought the responsibility lay with patient safety managers rather than themselves. That explains why there is a perception that medical incidents are often handled routinely with apologies without any consequences for the staff members concerned.
The revamp is particularly timely as hospitals have made headlines for the wrong reasons from time to time, the latest involving a woman having had her Fallopian tube
wrongly removed , instead of her appendix, by a higher surgical trainee at the Caritas Medical Centre last month. In March last year, a woman's uterus was
wrongly removed due to mishandled lab samples.
The authority says it will also establish various levels of penalties such as verbal or written warnings, a performance improvement programme, postponing or suspending pay increments, setting limits to promotions, suspending senior management appointments and dismissal. Along with the affirmation that the ultimate accountability lies with the top executives and the department heads, this will, hopefully, induce a stronger top-down culture of accountability and a greater drive towards enhancing patient safety.