**********************************************************
Following is a question by the Hon Tam Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (Mar 28):
Question:
Some staff unions have reflected to me that recently a number of frontline staff were assaulted, with some of them injured, by patients while on duty in public hospitals. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(a) the respective numbers of the relevant assault and injury cases reported to the Hospital Authority (HA) in each of the past three years;
(b) the total amount of compensation HA paid, in each of the past three years, to its staff who were injured as a result of assaults by patients; and
(c) if HA plans to take measures to strengthen the protection of the personal safety of frontline staff; if so, of the details of the measures; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) & (b) The number of injury cases suffered by Hospital Authority (HA) employees due to workplace violence and reported for employee compensation purposes in the past three years, together with the amount of compensation paid by HA to the relevant injured employees, is set out in the Table.
(c) The HA is concerned about the impact of workplace violence on its employees. In recent years, the HA has stepped up preventive and support measures in this regard, which have already started to yield results. In 2006, the number of cases of injuries suffered by HA staff as a result of workplace violence dropped by over 16% as compared with that in the previous year.
One of the most important aspects of the preventive and support measures within the HA is the strengthening of staff training. At present, a series of "Advanced Workplace Violence Training Courses" is being made available for staff at all levels so as to enable them to handle such incident in an appropriate manner. The content of these training courses include psychological intervention strategies, communication skills, crisis management and the relevant legal issues. In addition, the HA has developed a workplace violence policy statement and various safety manuals and issued guidelines for the prosecution of workplace violence incidents to its staff. The HA will continue to enhance security and safety protective measures (e.g. by improving workplace design and carrying out risk assessment for its outreach teams). The HA will also provide psychological support service to staff in need.
In respect of measures targeted externally, the HA is making continuous efforts through various programmes and media to enhance public awareness of the need to treat healthcare workers with respect and not to subject them to violence. Examples of such initiatives include the "Care for Carers" campaign organised by the HA and a segment of the "Police Magazine" television programme on workplace violence which was broadcast recently.
Ends/Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Issued at HKT 15:00
NNNN
