Communication vital when medical incidents occur: HA

The Hospital Authority (HA) said training its spokespersons on how to communicate with the public and family members after medical incidents occur is necessary. This recommendation of setting up a spokesperson preparedness programme comes from a review committee tasked with improving the authority’s management, which put forward various suggestions last month. The administration had earlier ordered the authority to review its management following a spate of medical blunders. Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau told a Legco panel meeting on Friday that it’s impossible to avoid medical incidents entirely, highlighting the incident rate in Hong Kong is much lower than in other advanced healthcare systems. Tony Ko, the authority’s chief executive, added that proper communication to avoid misunderstanding is more important. “We must understand that adverse clinical outcomes do happen. That is the same everywhere. The point is to communicate the incident well to the public, the family members and our internal staff members to be transparent,” he said. “On this, we think training is needed. Most of the time, we focus our training on medical training. So there's room for improvements in terms of communication skills. That's why we will follow up on this recommendation seriously.” Among the other recommendations put forward by the review committee is for a high-level reform committee, which will be formed and led by the HA’s chairman Henry Fan. Several lawmakers asked the HA for a clear timeline on the committee's formation and whether legislators could get involved. Ko said the HA has begun its work on this issue, noting that no more details can be given at the moment. Liberal Party lawmaker Peter Shiu, who's also a former Eastern District Council member, expressed concern about the authority’s plan to merge the Western and Eastern Hong Kong Island hospital clusters, saying he’s heard people worry that some hospitals would be shut down after the integration. Lo assured the legislator that hospital services will remain unaffected, noting the cluster is designed to cater to the population distribution. “In 2041, there should be 8.5 million people in Hong Kong. A cluster would serve one-seventh of the population. So I think that is necessary for us to review and make adjustment. By integrating the two clusters, the Eastern Hospital services will not be affected. There could even be improvement because upon integration, the management and administrative efficiency will be enhanced,” he said. The panel’s chair Chan Hoi-yan, for her part, raised concerns over the rising expenditure of the HA, noting the authority will receive over HK$95 billion in subsidies this year. In response, Lo mentioned that healthcare expenditures make up only 3.9 percent of the SAR’s GDP, which is quite low by global standards. The health minister said Hong Kong is well-known for the cost-effectiveness of its healthcare system, but also noted that an ageing population and implementation of new healthcare technologies are putting a strain on finances.