Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital announces serious untoward event
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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesperson for Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital (AHNH) today (January 7) made the following announcement regarding a serious untoward event:

     A 75-year-old female patient attended the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department on October 22, 2015 at 10.46am due to a respiratory tract infection and was prescribed with medicine for treatment. Psychiatric medications, which should have been dispensed to another patient, were mistakenly given to the patient concerned. Having discovered the wrong medication had been prescribed after one and a half hours, the dispenser immediately contacted the patient and her family to explain the incident and apologise. As the patient said she felt sleepy, she was advised to attend the A&E Department immediately. The patient told the A&E doctor that she had taken one dose of the dispensed medication. According to the medical records, the patient was conscious and her vital signs were stable. She was then admitted to a medical ward for observation. Her condition was stable all along and she was discharged two days later on October 24.  

      The hospital management became aware of the incident through the Intranet staff platform at the end of December 2015. Immediate follow-up action was taken and the incident was reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office (HAHO) via the Advance Incident Reporting System on January 4, 2016. The hospital will set up an investigation panel to investigate the cause of the medication incident and make recommendations for improvement. The investigation report will be submitted to the HAHO within eight weeks.

     AHNH is also very concerned that the related department had not followed the guidelines of incident reporting to notify the incident. The hospital will investigate the delay in reporting and take appropriate action according to the human resources procedures if required. The hospital again expressed an apology to the patient and her family. To prevent similar incidents from happening again, pharmacy staff have been reminded to be prudent during the drug dispensing process, and to strictly follow the guidelines and promptly report any medical incidents within 48 hours.

Ends/Thursday, January 7, 2016
Issued at HKT 19:28

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