'Existing policies on medical errors not clear enough'

A member of a review committee set up to look at the operations of public hospitals following a series of blunders said on Wednesday that there doesn't appear to be a clear mechanism in place to respond to incidents. "If an accident involves human factors, such as individual healthcare personnel not following guidelines, it raises questions about how to establish a fair assessment mechanism," Tim Pang from the Society for Community Organisation said on an RTHK programme. "However, if it does not necessarily involve human factors, it may be related to the overall quality supervision of services or the formulation of procedural systems. The responsibility seems to fall on the management level, as they are responsible for establishing these procedures and measures. Should they be held accountable? How should they be held accountable? It seems that there is currently no clear mechanism in place to address these issues." The Hospital Authority committee is chaired by Fok Tai-fai, a paediatrician and former dean of Chinese University's medical faculty. It has seven members, including medical sector lawmaker David Lam and former head of the Urban Renewal Authority Daniel Lam. The committee is to review existing mechanisms on monitoring performance, systems to manage risk and accountability, as well as incident response policies. It will submit recommendations to the authority's governing board within three months.