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Following is a question by the Hon Albert Ho and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (May 6):
Question:
Regarding the mortality rates of patients and turnover rates of healthcare staff in public hospitals under the Hospital Authority (HA), will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(a) the respective mortality rates of patients and turnover rates of healthcare staff in various acute hospitals and in various hospital clusters last year; and
(b) if HA has looked into the reasons for the higher mortality rates of patients in some acute hospitals and hospital clusters and put forward improvement proposals; if it has, of the details; if not, whether it will conduct a review?
Reply:
President,
(a) The mortality rates of in-patients and turnover rates of healthcare staff in various acute hospitals and hospital clusters under the Hospital Authority (HA) in 2008/09 are at Annex 1 and Annex 2 respectively.
(b) HA collects statistical data of various hospital clusters and hospitals, including data on mortality rates on a regular basis. There are variations among hospitals in terms of the scope of specialty services, the types of hospital beds and the distribution of the number of beds among specialties, while the demographic profile and age distribution of the people served also varied among them. All these factors can affect the mortality rates in the hospitals. It is not appropriate to make comparison solely on the mortality rates between individual clusters and hospitals and there is not necessarily any correlation between the mortality rates in individual clusters/hospitals and the turnover rates of healthcare staff.
At present, HA hospitals hold regular meetings to review death cases occurring in hospitals. Where necessary, individual death cases will be referred to the Coroner's Court for independent inquiry in accordance with the relevant legislation.
Ends/Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Issued at HKT 14:12
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