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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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