Managers urged to re-examine sterilisation procedures
Queen Elizabeth Hospital has been urged to re-examine its procedures for sterilising surgical equipment to prevent a repeat of a blunder in which instruments for four prostate operations and brain abscess surgery were mistakenly cleaned in the same tank of sterilised water.
The president of the Public Doctors' Association, Duncan Ho Hung-kwong, who works at the hospital, said sterilisation was usually the job of nurses. He said it was clear there had been human error, but the hospital's management should also bear some responsibility.
'Why did the frontline staff wrongly recognise the new steriliser? Was it because the management had not clearly informed the front line? [The investigators] should consider this point as well, instead of only blaming the frontline staff,' he said.
Dr Ho said it was very rare for the same tank of sterilised water to be used for five separate operations. 'The hospital should review the whole system of sterilisation and prevent similar things happening again,' he said.
Tim Pang Hung-cheong, of the Patients' Rights Association, said the incident was very serious and unacceptable. The patients could have caught serious infections or died because operating equipment was not sterilised, he said.
He said it was not the first time that public hospitals had made mistakes in sterilisation of surgical tools. He called on the Hospital Authority to use more disposable tools and better labelling to reduce risks.
'It's good that the hospital was swift to report the medical blunder to the public this time. But the more important thing is it has to thoroughly investigate the incident, report the findings to the public and step up the preventive measures,' Mr Pang said.
The legislator representing the medical sector, Kwok Ka-ki, said the hospital should review its communication with frontline staff to ensure they are aware of any changes the hospital makes to medical equipment, including sterilisers, or to sterilisation procedures.
Frontline staff must be vigilant about every detail of their checks on equipment and surgical procedures, he added.
