HA releases risk management publications
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The Hospital Authority (HA) today (January 23) published both the latest quarterly issue of "HA Risk Alert" as well as the Annual Report on Sentinel and Serious Untoward Events as a risk management and communication initiative to further strengthen the incident reporting and sharing of lessons learnt for safety improvements in public hospitals.
The HA spokesperson said the latest issue of "HA Risk Alert" reports five cases of retained instruments or material after surgery/interventional procedures, six cases of patient suicide and one case of infant abduction. Furthermore, among the 21 reported Serious Untoward Events, there were 17 medication errors and four cases of patient misidentification.
"Subsequent to incident review and analysis of root causes of these incidents, important lessons for patient safety are identified, while recommendations are made and shared in this publication to avoid similar events in future," the spokesperson added.
In a similar development, the HA also released the Annual Report on Sentinel and Serious Untoward Events covering the 12 months from October 1, 2018, to September 30, 2019, after it was discussed and endorsed by the HA Board this afternoon. There were a total of 42 Sentinel Events reported this year.
During the year, 92 Serious Untoward Events have also been reported, with 86 and six events related to medication errors and patient misidentification respectively. Serious Untoward Events are unexpected occurrences which had not caused death or permanent harm to patients but would have had the potential to do so without timely intervention.
The Annual Report on Sentinel and Serious Untoward Events can be accessed by healthcare workers and the public at www.ha.org.hk/report/sentinel_event, while "HA Risk Alert" has been distributed to the healthcare professionals in public hospitals for continuous quality improvement purposes and can be accessed by the public at www.ha.org.hk/riskalert. The next issue will be published on April 24.
Ends/Thursday, January 23, 2020
Issued at HKT 16:50
Issued at HKT 16:50
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