Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ15: Security measures in public hospitals

 

        Following is a question by the Dr Hon Joseph Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (January 26):

 

Question:

 

        Regarding health care personnel in public hospitals falling victim to violence while on duty, will the Government inform this Council:

 

(a)    in each of the past five years:

 

(i)of the number of such cases reported to the relevant authorities, with a breakdown by the types of violence used and the categories of places where the cases occurred;

 

(ii)of the reported number of health care personnel assaulted, with a breakdown by the hospitals and grades to which they belonged; and

 

(iii)of the respective numbers of attackers who were prosecuted and convicted of assaults, and the punishments imposed on them by the Courts;

 

(b)whether the authorities have reviewed if the existing security measures in public hospitals and the support provided to their staff are adequate; if they have, of the review results; if not, of the reasons; and

 

(c)of the measures to strengthen the communication between health care personnel and patients as well as their relatives and friends, so as to avoid the occurrence of violent incidents?

 

Reply

 

Madam President,

 

(a) (i)The number of healthcare staff in public hospitals who suffered injury while on duty as a result of workplace violence as reported for employees' compensation purposes in each of the past five years are shown in Annex 1.

 

        The types of physical violence suffered by these staff include kicking, biting, scratching, punching, slapping, and hitting by thrown objects; however, the Hospital Authority (HA) does not have a detailed breakdown of the cases by the types of violence.

 

        The vast majority of incidents involving workplace violence occurred in the ward areas.  A breakdown of cases by the types of location is given in Annex 2. 

 

(ii)The HA does not have a detailed breakdown of all cases by the hospitals and staff grades involved, but has conducted a survey of the five hospitals with the largest number of workplace violence cases in the year over the past five years.  The results of the survey are given in Annex 3.

       

(iii)There were a total of 25 prosecution cases between 1997 to 2004, of which 16 resulted in a conviction.  The punishment imposed by the Court cases ranged, in ascending order of severity, from a fine of $1000-$2000 to 12 months court supervision, two to six months confinement at a psychiatric hospital, and four months imprisonment.

 

(b)The HA has reviewed its current workplace violence management practices and implemented the following measures to minimise the occurrence of workplace violence in public hospitals -

 

(i) Establishment of a multi-disciplinary working group for the design and implementation of a HA-wide workplace violence prevention programme.  The initial design phase, which covers hospital risk assessment, internal and external consultation, and policy/guideline development, will be completed in the next four months.  Subsequent implementation plan will be developed, taking into account the relevant risk control requirements of individual cluster / hospital.

 

(ii) Provision of a three-level training programme (Level 1 on "Prevention and Management on Violence and Aggression"; Level 2 on "Breakaway Techniques"; and Level 3 on "Control and Restrain of Violent Patients") by qualified trainers for frontline hospital staff on an ongoing basis, covering doctors, nurses, supporting staff and allied health workers.  The training is designed to provide hospital staff with the necessary skills and competence to defuse aggression and violence when handling psychiatric patients.  To date, a total of over 4,000 HA staff have attended this training programme.

 

(iii) Enhancement of existing measures at the hospital cluster level with a view to better controlling the risk of workplace violence.  The areas of enhancement include -

 

- workplace design (e.g. high-security observation wards, improved recreational facilities for psychiatric wards, access control, CCTV and alarm systems);

 

- security services and police assistance;

 

- post-incident support by management and critical incident support teams;

 

- case risk-assessment for outreach team covering community nursing services and community psychiatric services; and

 

- provision of patient restraining devices in high risk areas and personal protective equipment e.g. personal panic alarm.

 

(iv) Provision of professional clinical psychological services to frontline staff by the OASIS (Centre for Personal Growth and Crisis Intervention) in the HA Head Office and satellite OASIS centres at the hospital cluster level.

 

(v) Adoption of a proactive approach to enhance the policy and guidelines on occupational safety and health, so as to prevent the occurrence of workplace violence and minimise the impact of workplace violence on staff who had been abused, threatened or assaulted while on duty.

 

(c)To improve the communication between its frontline healthcare staff and patients, the HA organises training courses, seminars and workshops on a regular basis.  The training aims at enabling frontline staff to communicate effectively with patients and their family members in the clinical setting (e.g. explain medical procedures in a clear and easily understood manner and inform them of the expected clinical result, possible complications and the inherent risks).  This type of training is useful in enhancing the mutual understanding between frontline staff and patients and reducing the possibility of conflict.

 

        In addition, the HA will, as part of its preliminary review and prevention strategy on workplace violence as discussed at the HA Board meeting in December 2004, launch a series of patient education initiatives in the near future.  These initiatives include a community poster design campaign entitled "caring for the carers", which is aimed at bolstering public support in eliminating inappropriate behaviour towards healthcare workers.  Posters will be put up in hospital areas and educational pamphlets distributed to users of hospital services to remind them of the need to respect healthcare workers and of HA's determination to take appropriate action against those who abuse hospital staff.  The HA will also continue with its ongoing efforts to promote the Patients' Charter in collaboration with patient self-help groups and to create greater public awareness about patients' rights and responsibilities. 

 

Ends/Wednesday, January 26, 2005

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Legislative Council Q15

Annex 1

 

Number of healthcare staff in public hospitals who suffered an injury

while on duty as a result of workplace violence

 

Year	Number of Cases
2000	323
2001	436
2002	661
2003	626
2004( Up to June)	332

Note: The number provided in the table does not include incidents of verbal abuse.

 

 

Legislative Council Q15

 

Annex 2

Breakdown of workplace violence cases by location

 

Location	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004 (Up to June)	Total
Ward Areas	298	402	600	547	290	2 137
A&E Areas	3	7	15	34	15	74
Other Areas	22	27	46	45	27	167
Grand Total	323	436	661	626	332	2 378

 

 

Legislative Council Q15

 

Annex 3

 

Breakdown of workplace violence cases by staff grade at the five hospitals with the largest number of such cases in the year over the past five years

 

Year	Hospital	Staff Group					Total
		Admin	Allied Health	Medical	Nursing	Support
2000	PYN	1			30	29	60
	CPH				31	21	52
	KCH	1		1	15	13	30
	UCH				9	10	19
	QMH				11	7	18
2001	CPH			1	88	49	138
	PYN				31	33	64
	TPH			1	7	20	28
	UCH		1		19	6	26
	TMH				14	9	23
2002	KCH			2	73	57	132
	CPH			1	65	55	121
	PYN	1	1	1	41	44	88
	TMH			5	19	18	42
	TPH			3	12	24	39
2003	KCH		1	1	65	43	110
	CPH				51	57	108
	PYN			1	33	33	67
	TPH				18	19	37
	QMH				12	16	28
2004 (up to June)	KCH		1		43	31	75
	CPH				27	21	48
	PYN	1	3		20	22	46
	TPH				10	12	22
	TMH	1			14	4	19