Tung Wah Hospital announces incident of delayed notification of patient test result
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The spokesman for Tung Wah Hospital (TWH) announced an incident of delayed notification of patient test result today (May 3):
During a review of test reports in the Continence Care Clinic in TWH earlier, it was found that some reports were not printed out automatically according to the prevailing protocol, resulting in delayed notification to 13 patients of their test results. Upon the discovery of the incident, appointments of the patients concerned have been advanced, that 11 of them have already had their follow up appointment, while the remaining two patients will have their follow up appointments arranged this week. No patient was found in urgent situation after consultation. The clinic would continue to follow up on the patients' condition.
The incident involved 13 patients, including eight of them with abnormal levels of prostate specific antigen and the remaining five patients with urinary tract infection. In general, the clinic would arrange a General Out-patient Clinic appointment for doctor to explain to patients within a week if abnormal test result was found. If needed, the patient would be referred to Urology Specialist Out-patient Clinic for follow up in around three months.
The tests concerned were conducted between January to April this year. The hospital expressed apology to the patients for delayed notification of their test results. However, the hospital reiterated that no treatment to patient was delayed in the incident.
After investigation, the clinic concluded that the incident was caused by the disconnection of a computer with its printer. TWH is very concerned about the incident and had reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office via the Advance Incident Reporting System. A thorough investigation to identify the cause of the incident would be conducted. The Hospital Authority had already checked all similar devices of its clinics to ensure the normal operation of its printing system.
Ends/Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Issued at HKT 21:43
Issued at HKT 21:43
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