Editorial | Public hospitals still have lessons to learn after Hong Kong patient deaths
- Incidents at city facilities must be thoroughly investigated and measures to prevent a repetition clearly spelled out and promptly implemented
Considering public hospitals provide healthcare for most Hongkongers, the incidence of serious medical blunders is low. Keeping it low is paramount to confidence in the system.
Incidents involving patient safety are bound to be reported from time to time. They must be thoroughly investigated and measures to prevent a repetition clearly spelled out and promptly implemented.
The latter is especially important when a fatal error is the subject of an inquiry and recommendations are made in an attempt to stop it from happening again.
A case in point may be the death of a 79-year-old man at the Caritas Medical Centre last week after an oxygen cylinder valve was found to have been closed during his transfer from an ophthalmology ward to an intensive care ward. In a similar fatal incident at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 2018, a patient’s ventilation bag was not hooked up to an oxygen cylinder during his transfer.
An investigation blamed inexperience and a lack of communication between nurses.
In the latest incident, Caritas Medical Centre chief executive Dr Nelson Wat Ming-sun said a patient transfer team of two nurses and an ophthalmologist used a mobile oxygen storage cylinder before switching back to a fixed one in the intensive care unit. The case will be put before an investigation panel and the Coroner’s Court.
