PWH announces safety incident of medical equipment

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
     
     The spokesman for Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH) made the following announcement today (July 26) regarding a medical equipment incident:

     At about 11.30 this morning, a staff member found that the tabletop of an examination table was broken during the intraocular pressure examination for a patient in the Eye Centre of PWH. The relevant staff and the patient tried to hold the intraocular pressure testing device immediately, and other staff stepped forward to assist. The patient's knee and hand and the staff's knee sustained slight redness after the incident and were confirmed not serious after the examination. Hospital services were not affected.

     PWH was very concerned about the incident and immediately explained the incident to the patient and staff concerned. The hospital has expressed sympathy and will offer assistance to them. The hospital promptly investigated the incident and confirmed that the centre staff used the relevant equipment appropriately. The examination table was designed for eye examinations and the hospital has used the same type of examination table for more than ten years. It is initially suspected that the incident was related to the quality of the tabletop materials. As a precautionary measure, the hospital has suspended the use of the same batch of examination tables and instructed the supplier to inspect all the examination tables of the same model in the hospital as soon as possible to ensure their safety. 

     The hospital has reported the incident to the Hospital Authority Head Office via the Advanced Incident Reporting System.