HA to probe notification system after outcry over liver patient

Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority (HA) on Tuesday said it will conduct a “fullscale” review into loopholes in its notification mechanism following a public outcry over a mother who is suffering acute liver failure, allegedly caused by a medical blunder.

The move finally responds to public calls which follow a series of alleged medical malpractices in the city. The HA said it would present results of the review to the public in eight weeks.

Medical experts urged the government to restore the original meaning of the mechanism while a patients’ group sought clarification on what must be reported.

According to statistics from Food and Health Bureau (FHB), the authority had recorded a sharp increase in complaints in the 2015-16 medical year — a rise of 17 percent to 2,807 cases. Between 2012 and last year, compensation and legal fees generated by 613 serious cases had cost the HA more than HK$60 million, FHB figures showed.

The issue has focused public attention on the notification system, which was implemented in all hospital clusters since 2007. Hospitals are obliged to report “sentinel and serious untoward events” within 24 hours through a dedicated reporting system to the HA.

However, in 43-year-old mother Tang Kwai-sze’s case, the United Christian Hospital waited 15 days to report a fatal medication mistake that led to liver failure; she needed two transplants to save her life.

Legislator Joseph Lee Koklong, former HA member, said the mechanism was no longer what it was originally intended to be.

A mechanism set up to improve the public hospital system had turned into a control system on frontline staff.

The patients’ group agreed with the opinion. Patients’ Rights Association spokesman Tim Pang Hung-cheong said all frontline medical staff should report observations even for tiny problems they witness in the system and save them for doctors at higher levels or HA officials to look into.

He also urged the HA to set clearer guidelines for staff.

However, doctors’ group representative Seamus Siu Yuk-leung argued the current mechanism put pressure on doctors. The chairman of the Frontline Doctors’ Union said frontline doctors were reluctant to report problems without consent from superiors. He agreed that the review should create a better culture of reporting practices.