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Headlines and deadlines

Hong Kong: HA details published

The Hospital Authority (HA) Board has released itsAnnual Report on Sentinel and Serious Untoward Events, covering the 12 months from 1 October 2010 to 30 September 2011.

The HA Sentinel Event Policy was introduced in October 2007 to further strengthen the reporting, management and monitoring of serious medical incidents in public hospitals.

The Policy was revised in January 2010 to mandate the reporting of two more categories of serious untoward events, namely medication error and misidentification

The Policy was revised in January 2010 to mandate the reporting of two more categories of serious untoward events, namely medication error and misidentification that could have led to death or permanent harm to patients.

In this year’s report, there were a total of 44 sentinel events reported during the period, compared to 33 in 2011 and 40 events in 2010.

It was noted that the increase is mainly attributed to more cases of “patient suicide” and “retained instruments or other material after surgery/interventional procedure”, an increase of nine and six cases respectively compared to 2011.

During the year, 97 serious untoward events were reported, with 88 events related to medication error and nine to patient misidentification.

www.ha.org.hk

Singapore: MoH outlines plans for healthcare in 2020

The Ministry of Health (MoH) has delivered a statement on the accessibility, quality and affordability of healthcare in the future.

Part one of The Committee of Supply speech on “Healthcare 2020: Improving Accessibility, Quality and Affordability for Tomorrow’s Challenges” began by identifying the rise in healthcare costs and an ageing and growing population as the main challenges that lie ahead. It went on to outline the main points of the overall “Healthcare 2020 masterplan”, which has been brought in to overcome these challenges by:

  • Increasing capacity within the healthcare service
  • Improving the infrastructure of hospitals 
  • Actively engaging the private sector
  • Building a better public healthcare workforce.
The speech looked at improving the quality of care, paying particular attention to the regional health system, primary care and palliative care

Part two of the speech looked at improving the quality of care, paying particular attention to the regional health system, primary care and palliative care. It also considered how the MoH could improve affordability of healthcare and encourage sustainable healthcare spending.

Both speeches are available at www.moh.gov.sg.

Malaysia: Corporate move for MMC

In a bid to address concerns over declining medical standards in Malaysia, the government has tabled an amendment to the Medical Act 1971 that will corporatise the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC).

Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said that the move would free the MMC from government bureaucracy, increasing the efficiency of its administrative work

The overall aim is to turn the MMC into a professional body that is responsible for maintaining standards in the country’s medical profession – using the General Medical Council (GMC) in the United Kingdom as an example.

Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, Health Deputy Director General (Medical), said: “The corporatisation of MMC is to emulate the GMC in the United Kingdom, where it functions not only to set and monitor standards of the medical profession, but also the competency of doctors registered with it.”

In comments to The Sun newspaper, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said that the move would free the MMC from government bureaucracy, increasing the efficiency of its administrative work. He added: “The MMC is growing by leaps and bounds: it has registered around 35,000 doctors now, so we have to look into making MMC more efficient and not tie it down with government bureaucracy or circular.”

www.thesundaily.my

Malaysia: Confidentiality guidelines issued

The MMC has issued revised guidelines onConfidentiality. The guidance is an extension of the principles outlined in other MMC guidelines, including Good Medical Practice and the Code of Professional Conduct.

MPS has produced a factsheet on confidentiality for members in Malaysia. It is available on the MPS website.

Workshop series a big hit

MPS’s Essential Risk Management Workshop Series has proved extremely popular with members in the Asia Pacific region.

Launched in 2009, by the end of 2011 almost 350 workshops had taken place across Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, with a total attendance of more than 5,000. Feedback from members has been excellent.

MPS’s Essential Risk Management Workshop Series has proved extremely popular with members in the Asia Pacific region

The figures in the table below show the percentage of attendees who agreed or strongly agreed with each statement.

The series now has four workshops:

  • Mastering Your Risk
  • Mastering Adverse Outcomes
  • Mastering Professional Interactions
  • Mastering Difficult Interactions with Patients.

A new workshop, Mastering Shared Decision Making, is to be launched later this year. More details can be found here.

Country

Workshop worthwhile attending

Recommend to colleague

Consider further MPS activities

Will change practice as a result
Hong Kong
 94% 92% 93% 77%
Malaysia
 99% 96% 97% 86%
Singapore
 97% 95% 95% 85%
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