The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The Hospital Authority (HA) announced today (June 7) the report of the Review Committee on Medical Equipment and Facility Maintenance (the Committee). The HA will proactively follow up on various improvement recommendations to protect the safety of patients and staff.

     The Chairman of the Committee, Mr Wan Man-yee, said: “During the past three months, the Committee has analysed the causes of various incidents, consulted our staff and professionals in the industries. The Committee has made 23 recommendations on improving maintenance of medical equipment, conducting building safety inspection by in-house staff as well as making use of technology etc. to strengthen the protection to patients and staff.”

     After the analysis and visits to the concerned hospitals, the Committee concluded the incidents related to the maintenance of medical equipment and facilities with the following observations:
 

1. Ageing buildings and facilities – the HA managed over 300 buildings, more than half of which were completed more than 30 years ago; and
2. Extremely heavy usage of facilities – ever-increasing demand for hospital services led to heavy usage of medical equipment and facilities for a prolonged period of time.

     And the Committee made the following recommendations:

1. Maintenance of medical equipment
i. Biomedical engineering staff should supervise the equipment maintenance on site according to the Risk Class;
ii. Expand the establishment of biomedical engineering staff and establish procedures to provide checking and supervising to the maintenance service by the contractors;
iii. Procurement of medical equipment for new hospitals and major maintenance contracts should be centrally handled at the Hospital Authority Head Office (HAHO) level with the involvement of Clusters;
iv. Set up depositories with clear and documented procedures in indexing and maintaining the manufacturer’s service manuals;
v. Establish a system for verifying identity, authorisation and qualifications of contractor staff for equipment maintenance. The contractors are also required to conduct periodic self-appraisal regularly;
vi. Digitalise the work processes of maintenance services with IT enhancements;
vii. Biomedical engineering staff at Clusters should focus on medical equipment maintenance while clerical staff should provide administrative support; and
viii. Enhance professional development and training for staff working on medical equipment maintenance.
 
2. Facility Maintenance
i. Establish rolling inspection and maintenance programmes and scheduled planned maintenance programmes for buildings according to age, usage, uniqueness of the structural/building fabric design, history of spalling and risk profile;
ii. Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of Facility Management (FM) staff at the HAHO/Cluster/Hospital level;
iii. Keep a comprehensive record of building inspection and repairs; employ modern technology and tools/equipment for inspection, monitoring and evaluation of building conditions; address the root cause of water leakage/seepage using scientific methods;
iv. Progressively employ a full team of relevant disciplines of building professionals in each of the seven Clusters;
v. Expand the Cluster/Hospital/HAHO staffing to enable the use of in-house staff in conducting Building Safety Inspection (BSI) surveys and exercise direct control on BSI; and
vi. Strengthen professional training for Cluster/Hospital FM teams and enhance grade management.
 
3. Internal and external communication
i. Elevate the role of Corporate Communication Department in information dissemination, advising cluster management as well as engaging external stakeholders;
ii. Devise internal reporting mechanism as well as public disclosure guiding principles for medical equipment and facility events; and
iii. Strengthen media training for HAHO/Cluster leaders.
 
     The Chief Executive of the HA, Dr Tony Ko, said: “We sincerely express our gratitude to the Committee Chairman, Mr Wan, and the members (annex). Over the past three months, the Committee has conducted comprehensive review of the maintenance of medical equipment and facilities in public hospitals and made valuable recommendations. The HA will proactively follow up on relevant recommendations, implement the concerned measures as soon as possible according to hospital operations and needs, as well as introduce advance technology to assist in inspection and assessment so as to enhance the safety of patients and staff.”
 
     The HA is also reviewing the reports submitted by outsourced vendors. The HA will proceed the legal procedures according to the terms and conditions under the contract to look into relevant liabilities by the vendors. 
 
     Dr Ko said that the safety of patients and staff members is the HA’s utmost concern. Therefore, departments concerned will formulate detailed follow-up plans and report on work progress on a regular basis; a hospital safety committee will also be established to strengthen supervision of hospital safety matters.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The Hospital Authority (HA) expressed its serious concern for the recent unfortunate incidents involving psychiatric patients while expressed its deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and the affected citizens. The HA will spare no effort to support citizens in need, hoping the members of the public can soon be healing from the pain and getting out of the haze of the unfortunate incidents. To be in line with government policies, the HA will review the treatments, rehabilitation services and procedures currently provided to psychiatric patients with an aim to enhance psychiatric services; maintain close communication with the Advisory Committee on Mental Health and other stakeholders related to psychiatric services to explore how to address issues related to mental health in Hong Kong in a more integrated, safe and holistic manner; and provide appropriate support to patients in need in response to the different demand for psychiatric services in the community.

     The HA has always attached great importance to the needs of psychiatric patients with commitment to providing appropriate psychiatric services. The HA appeals to the members of the public to always pay attention to the mental health of yourself and your family and friends. If needed, one should seek medical or professional help as soon as possible so as to proceed with professional assessment and psychiatric treatment at the earliest which can effectively improve mental health and prevent deterioration of conditions.

     The Chairperson of the Coordinating Committee in Psychiatry, Dr Anna Wu, said, “Having regard to patients’ severity of the condition and clinical needs and risks, the multidisciplinary teams provide appropriate community support to patients, including mental health assessment, symptom management, relapse prevention, medication management, crisis intervention, stress management, physical and mental health education and etc.” Dr Wu added that, through regular outreach and home visits, as well as close collaboration with community partners, case managers will assist patients in setting goals and recovery-oriented plans to facilitate their reintegration.

     The representative of the Coordinating Committee in Psychiatry, Dr Bonnie Siu, appeals to the public to join hands with healthcare professionals to facilitate the rehabilitation and reintegration of patients with mental illness through strengthening support and understanding and reducing stigmatisation. Dr Siu said, “Most of the stable mental patients who have recovered from mental illness can reintegrate into our society. Those with violence tendency are a minority, and serious attacks on strangers are very rare. We hope the public will not stigmatise mental patients.”

     Currently, the HA provides psychiatric services in a team approach. A multidisciplinary team of professionals (including doctors, nurses, clinical psychologists, occupational therapists and medical social workers etc.) would consider the severity of patient conditions and clinical needs to provide holistic and comprehensive medical services, including inpatient and outpatient services, ambulatory rehabilitation training, and community support. Among them, psychiatric outpatient clinics has implemented triage arrangements to ensure patients with urgent conditions who need earlier diagnosis and treatment receive priority follow-up and treatment.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     In response to media reports on the internship arrangements in public hospitals for physiotherapy and occupational therapy students, the Hospital Authority (HA) spokesman made the following clarification today (March 20):

     The HA clarified that public hospitals have never provided clinical internship subsidies to physiotherapy and occupational therapy students. Therefore, it is untrue to report that the HA will stop providing such subsidies.

     The HA reiterated that public hospitals will not adjust the arrangements for providing internship opportunities and quotas for physiotherapy and occupational therapy students. The arrangements concerned will not affect the prevailing manpower and financial arrangements.

     At present, tertiary institutions will arrange internship training in public hospitals for students of healthcare-related programmes including physiotherapy and occupational therapy students. The HA will deploy additional manpower and resources to supervise and assist the students.

     The HA emphasised that public hospitals will continue to co-operate with tertiary institutions and relevant professional organisations to enhance the training of healthcare professionals to serve patients. The HA has been supporting and co-operating with different tertiary institutions in training healthcare professionals while providing internship opportunities in public hospitals for students of healthcare-related programmes so that they can gain enough clinical experience and meet the internship requirements for professional registration.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
 
     The spokesman for the Hospital Authority (HA) announced two ward facilities circuit board malfunction incidents today (March 13):

     Queen Mary Hospital received a staff report yesterday (March 12) at around 3.30pm, stating that a patient call bell indication light box set outside a medical ward cubicle was malfunctioning with pungent smell. After investigation, the circuit board of the light was confirmed malfunction. Repair works were completed in the same afternoon. During the works, two patients were temporarily transferred outside the cubicle to facilitate the works.
      
     Another incident was reported in the orthopaedic ward of North District Hospital (NDH). Pungent smell was found in a pneumatic tube device at the nurse station at around 3pm today. Preliminary inspection found that the incident was related to the system circuit board malfunction. The NDH has arranged to replace the circuit board and was expected to complete on March 14.
      
     Both wards are installed with proper devices to ascertain electricity safety. No patients nor staff were injured in the incidents. Patient services were not affected. The HA reiterates that the safety of patients and staff is the HA’s utmost concern. The two hospitals have reported the incidents to the HA Head Office via the Advance Incident Reporting System.