Author Archives: hksar gov

     The Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Lau Kong-wah, today (September 1) extended his congratulations to Hong Kong squash athletes Annie Au, Chan Ho-ling, Ho Tsz-lok and Lee Ka-yi , as well as Lee Ho-yin, Au Chun-ming, Yip Tsz-fung and Henry Leung on winning a gold medal in the Women’s Team event and a silver medal in the Men’s Team event respectively in the 18th Asian Games, being held in Jakarta and Palembang in Indonesia.  

     Mr Lau said, “The squash team has demonstrated perseverance and delivered an outstanding performance. They have won glory for Hong Kong with their medals and they are the pride of our people.”

     The Hong Kong team has so far won 44 medals, namely seven gold medals, 18 silver medals and 19 bronze medals, at this Asian Games. The list of other medals won on August 31 and today is as follows:

Today

Bronze medal
—————
Bridge: Women’s Pair 
Pearlie Chan and Yeung Hoi-ning

Bridge: Men’s Pair
Lai Wai-kit and Mak Kwok-fai

August 31

Silver medal
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Windsurfing – Women’s RS:X
Hayley Chan

Windsurfing: Mixed RS One
Ma Kwan-ching and Rafeek Kikabhoy

Windsurfing: Men’s RS:X
Michael Cheng read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesperson for the North District Hospital made the following announcement today (September 1) regarding a serious untoward event:

     A 64-year old male patient was admitted into the medical ward of the hospital via the Accident and Emergency Department (AED) for abdominal pain, vomiting and weakness in the lower limbs on April 23. He was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus and cardio-vascular disease. On April 24, computed tomography scan confirmed that he had pancreatic cancer which had metastasized to the liver. After having undergone a period of treatment and observation, he was discharged in the morning of May 4 with discharge medications which contained drugs for diabetes mellitus, heart conditions and blood pressure. While the patient was waiting for discharge, the ward nurse put the drugs in the drawer for discharged patients’ drugs and had not handed them to the patient when he left the ward. The patient was eventually discharged from the hospital that afternoon via Non-Emergency Ambulance Transfer Services.

     According to patient’s relative, she went to the ward on May 8 to enquire if the patient had been prescribed with discharge medications and was told no medications had been prescribed on his discharge. In the morning of May 17, ward staff discovered a drug package inside the drug drawer. After checking it was found that it belonged to the above discharged patient. His relative was contacted to get back the drugs from the hospital. Unfortunately the patient was found unconscious at home in the afternoon on the same day. He was sent to the AED of the hospital by ambulance and was certified dead after failing resuscitation. The case was reported to the Coroner. According to the death report, the cause of his death is cancer of pancreas with metastasis.

     On August 28, the hospital received feedback from the patient’s relative that the patient had not been given discharge medications. It was noted that the incident had not been reported to the hospital management.

     The hospital is highly concerned about the incident. An expert panel will be set up to conduct an in-depth investigation into the incident and to review the workflows with regard to the handling of discharge medications, relatives’ enquiries and reporting of incidents and to make recommendations on improvement. Meanwhile, the incident has been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office via the Advance Incident Reporting System.

     As regard the handling of discharged patients’ drugs, drug prescriptions will be printed on patients’ discharge summaries and ward staff are required to check if the discharge medications have been delivered to ward. There are also notices to remind staff to retrieve the discharge medications from the designated drug drawer. The electronic Patient Record (ePR) system is available in all wards, allowing staff to check up patients’ medication records and to answer related enquiries, and incidents relating to medication are to be reported to the ward management.

     Subsequent to the incident, the hospital has implemented the following measures to further enhance clinical governance, with a view to prevent similar incidents from happening again:

1. All wards have arranged designated staff to check the designated drawer for discharge medications daily to ensure that all medications have been given out to the patients discharged that day;
2. All staff members are reminded again to strictly follow the established workflow in checking and handling discharge medications;
3. Ward staff are required to document enquiries from discharged patients or their relatives regarding drug prescriptions or sudden change in patients’ health conditions so that other members of the team are aware of the enquiries and can follow up accordingly; and
4. Frontline staff training on incident reporting would be enhanced.

     The hospital is deeply saddened by this unfortunate incident and would like to extend its sincere apology and condolences to the deceased’s relatives. The Patient Relations Office will keep close communication with the relatives to update them of the investigation results in a timely manner and will provide them with any assistance as far as feasible. read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:     Regarding earlier announcements on two clusters of in-patients infected with Human Metapneumovirus and Rhinovirus respectively, the spokesperson for Siu Lam Hospital mad… read more

     The Labour Department (LD) today (September 1) reminded employers to make prior work arrangements for staff in times of rainstorms as soon as possible.
 
     “To avoid disputes and confusion, employers should make prior work arrangements for staff and contingency measures in times of rainstorms,” an LD spokesman said.
 
     “In working out and enforcing the arrangements, employers should give prime consideration to employees’ safety both in the workplace and during their journeys to and from work, and adopt a flexible approach. Whenever possible they should consult their staff.”
 
     The work arrangements should cover the following matters:
 
* Whether employees are required to report for duty when different rainstorm warnings are issued;
* After a rainstorm warning is cancelled, the time for staff who have not reported for duty to resume work and the arrangements;
* How wages and allowances (if any) will be calculated for staff who are required to report for duty and those who are late for work or absent from work during rainstorms; and
* For employees who are required to travel to and from workplaces during rainstorms, whether transport facilities will be provided to them and, if so, the arrangements.
 
     “Employers should make realistic assessments of the requirements for essential staff and require only absolutely essential staff to report for duty in adverse weather conditions. If an Amber, Red or Black Rainstorm Warning is issued during working hours, employees working indoors should remain on duty as usual and stay where they are unless it is dangerous to do so. Supervisors of employees working outdoors in exposed areas should suspend outdoor duties as soon as practicable. They should arrange for their employees to take shelter temporarily and resume duty when weather conditions permit. When the Black Rainstorm Warning is issued, those employees should not resume duty until the warning is lowered and weather conditions permit. If the Black Rainstorm Warning remains in force at the end of working hours, for safety reasons, employers should provide employees with an area in the workplace as temporary shelter for them to stay if they want to.
 
     “If possible, employers should provide transport services for employees who are still required to travel to and from workplaces when the Black Rainstorm Warning is in force, or give them a special travelling allowance as encouragement.
 
     “For staff who have practical difficulties in resuming work promptly upon cancellation of a rainstorm warning, employers should give due consideration to the circumstances of individual employees and handle each case flexibly.
 
     “As rainstorms are natural occurrences that cannot be avoided, employers should not deduct wages of employees who are absent from or late for work because of inclement weather. Neither should employers dismiss an employee summarily based on these grounds,” he said.
 
     The spokesman also reminded employers to observe the statutory liabilities and requirements under the Employment Ordinance, the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance, the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance and the Minimum Wage Ordinance.
 
     Employers should not deduct the annual leave, statutory holidays or rest days employees are entitled to under the Employment Ordinance so as to compensate for the loss of working hours resulting from employees’ failure to report for duty upon the announcement of a Black Rainstorm Warning. An employer who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with relevant provisions under the Employment Ordinance is liable to prosecution.
 
     Employers should also note that they have an obligation to maintain a safe workplace for their employees under the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance.
 
     “If employees are required to work in times of rainstorms, employers should ensure that the risks at work are properly controlled and reduced to levels that are as low as reasonably practicable,” the spokesman said.
 
     Under the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance, employers are liable to pay compensation for deaths or injuries incurred when employees are travelling by a direct route from their residences to workplaces, or from workplaces back to residences after work, four hours before or after working hours on a day when Typhoon Signal No. 8 or above or a Red or Black Rainstorm Warning is in force.
 
     To provide practical guidelines and samples of work arrangements for the reference of employers and employees, the LD has issued the booklet “Code of Practice in times of Typhoons and Rainstorms”. The code can be obtained from the branch offices of the Labour Relations Division or downloaded from the department’s webpage (www.labour.gov.hk/eng/public/wcp/Rainstorm.pdf). read more

     As the rainstorm warning has been issued by the Hong Kong Observatory, the Labour Department (LD) reminds employers and contractors that they should adopt necessary work arrangements and take suitable safety measures to pr… read more