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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The 39th issue of "HA Risk Alert" was published today (October 30) by the Hospital Authority (HA) as a risk management and communication initiative to further strengthen the reporting and monitoring of medical incidents in public hospitals.
In the second quarter of 2015, there were 11 sentinel events reported, including seven cases of patient suicide, three cases of retained instruments after surgery/interventional procedures, and one case of an interventional procedure involving the wrong patient. Among the reported serious untoward events, there were 11 medication incidents.
"Subsequent to incident review and analysis of root causes of these incidents, important lessons of patient safety are identified, while recommendations are made and shared, in this publication to avoid similar events in future," the spokesman said.
The publication has been distributed to all healthcare professionals in public hospitals for continuous quality improvement purposes. It can also be accessed by the public at www.ha.org.hk/riskalert.
"HA Risk Alert" is published on a quarterly basis and posted on the HA website every last working Friday in the months of January, April, July and October. The next issue is scheduled to be published a week earlier on January 21, 2016, to dovetail with the publication of the Annual Report on Sentinel and Serious Untoward Events.
Ends/Friday, October 30, 2015
Issued at HKT 17:05
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