The Hospital Authority has reiterated its zero tolerance policy on workplace violence, including threatening staff and physical - or even verbal - abuse from patients. Dr Tung Chi-kwong, the authority's Workplace Violence Subject Officer of the New Territories West Cluster, told RTHK that cases of violence against staff fluctuated over the years. He said the authority hoped to minimise such incidents by appealing to the public for a greater understanding of the issues facing its staff, and to create a culture of mutual respect in the workplace. "I think this is a very valuable occasion for us to actually plead to public members that we will try to induce a mutual-respect culture in the workplace, and then hopefully it will improve communications and new ways to kind of de-escalate the tension," he said. The authority said cases of violence were often related to a patient's expectations not being met, such as long waiting times, or issues with the treatment plan. It said it was talking to frontline staff about their specific needs or the kinds of high-risk situations they faced, so it could provide tailor-made solutions. "For example, we have been improving our designs of a forearm protector because one of the common injuries faced by our staff is when they have been doing some sort of routine nursing measures, like feeding or injection and so on. When our patients are in an abnormal mental state, they may consider the approach as threatening and sometimes they may have bitten or scratched our staff," said Dr Tung. The authority said certain departments were more prone to violence, including psychiatry, geriatrics as well as the emergency room. Training was being given to staff from these departments, including break-away techniques to learn how to escape from dangerous situations. Certain cases were also referred to the police, and the conviction rate was as high as 90 percent, the authority added.
