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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The spokesperson of United Christian Hospital (UCH) made the following announcement today (April 14) regarding a histopathology report incident:
A 52-year-old female patient visited UCH Obstetric and Gynaecology (O&G) special outpatient clinic in June 2015 for right ovarian cyst which was detected by her private doctor and underwent elective laparoscopic surgery to remove bilateral fallopian tubes and ovaries on both sides on December 8. During the operation, no malignant features were identified. Her fallopian tubes and ovaries specimens were sent for histopathology examination in accordance with the procedures.
The operation and her post-operative recovery in hospital were uneventful. The patient was discharged on December 10 and was scheduled to be followed up on April 11, 2016.
When the patient attended the scheduled follow-up appointment on April 11 this year, the doctor retrieved her histopathology report from Clinical Management System which showed right ovary clear cell carcinoma. The doctor immediately explained the histopathology report to the patient and arranged the patient for computed tomography scan of abdomen and pelvis on April 13. The report showed no focal suspicious abdomen and pelvic mass and the patient was informed of the outcome this afternoon. The patient will return for follow up consultation tomorrow (April 15) and a detailed explanation will be provided.
According to the current mechanism of UCH O&G Department, one designated printer is assigned for printing out automatically the histopathology reports generated from the Laboratory Information System (LIS). All printed reports will be screened by medical staff and filed into patients' medical records.
The hospital has reviewed the system records of the information technology department. Initial investigation found out one batch of histopathology reports was generated on December 23, 2015 by LIS. However, the ward did not receive these reports.
This batch of histopathology reports contains four reports involving a total of three patients. Apart from the above female patient, the second patient's histopathology report showed a diagnosis of teratoma, patient received follow-up management in January 2016. The third patient had a miscarriage and no abnormalities were found in the report. The clinical management of the two cases was not affected.
The Hospital is deeply concerned about the incident and has apologised to the patient with the sincerest sympathies. Clinical team will proactively follow up with the patient and arrange timely and appropriate treatment. The Patients Relations Team will provide necessary support to the patient. The hospital will form an investigation panel and submit a report within eight weeks with improvement recommendations to prevent recurrence of similar incidents. UCH had reported the case to the Hospital Authority Head Office via the Advance Incident Reporting System.
Ends/Thursday, April 14, 2016
Issued at HKT 20:13
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