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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The third issue of ¡§HA Risk Alert¡¨ is published today (March 28) by the Hospital Authority (HA). The HA implemented a Sentinel Event Policy in October last year as a risk management and communication initiative to further strengthen the reporting and monitoring of adverse incidents in public hospitals.
Dr Leung Pak-yin, HA Director of Quality and Safety, said that the policy ensures immediate and appropriate management of the event to minimise the harm to the patient, support the staff and minimise the impact of the incident.
¡§Equally important is that the programme will help prevent the recurrence of a similar incident by ensuring a thorough investigation of the incident and to share the learning points across HA,¡¨ added Dr Leung.
Important lessons for patient safety identified from the root cause analyses during the incident investigation will be collated and shared among healthcare professionals in the bi-monthly publication ¡§HA Risk Alert¡¨.
Positive responses have been received from frontline staff on the first two issues of the publication, which also presented overseas examples of adverse events and common pitfalls in the healthcare setting.
The latest issue of ¡§HA Risk Alert¡¨ features a few local cases of retained guidewires and a case of infant abduction alongside recommendations to avoid similar events in future.
The publication has been distributed to all healthcare professionals in public hospitals for continuous quality improvement. It can also be accessed by the public at www.ha.org.hk/riskalert.
Future issues of ¡§HA Risk Alert¡¨ will be published and posted on the HA website every last working Friday in the alternate (odd) month. The next issue will be published on May 30, 2008.
Ends/Friday, March 28, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:40
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