SINGAPORE needs to have a “learning culture” instead of a “blame culture”, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said in Parliament today.
This, in response to Non-Constituency MP Leon Perera’s request to reveal the names of the staff involved in the Hepatitis C outbreak in the Singapore General Hospital’s (SGH) renal ward between last April and June. He said that revealing the names would not benefit patients or caregivers.
Without giving names or specific designations, Mr Gan said: “Naming the staff does not contribute to better care of patients. We have to bear in mind the long-term impact on healthcare patients and caregivers.” Singapore needs to have a “learning culture” in order to “improve the system”, he added.
Mr Gan also did not specify disciplinary sanctions beyond what was given before – that 12 SGH staff in leadership positions and four Ministry of Health (MOH) senior officers were given either “warnings, stern warnings or financial penalties“. Warnings were recorded in the staff service records while stern warnings had a more negative impact on the staff’s career and could affect future promotions and awards. Either two warnings could be imposed together with financial penalties.
“But the greatest penalty is not these disciplinary measures. For everyone involved, including those who had provided direct care to the affected patients, we will carry with us the pain and regret of this incident for a long time,” Mr Gan said.
In a press statement last month, SGH said that it had meted out disciplinary sanctions to 12 staff in leadership positions for the gaps in their roles in managing the outbreak or infection control. MOH also said in another press statement that the four senior officers in the ministry were disciplined for “their failure to intervene early and to ensure the infectious disease notification and reporting system was effective and rigorous”.
MOH, however, did not disclose further information, including the names of the staff involved, citing “staff and patient confidentiality norms”. It only added that “disciplinary actions were…based on the specific roles, responsibilities and job nature of the officers, as well as the nature of the incident and the impact of their actions in this episode” and that “those with higher level of responsibilities have received heavier penalties”.
Preventive measures
In reply to Tampines GRC Member of Parliament Cheng Li Hui’s enquiry about measures put in place to ensure incidents like the Hepatitis C outbreak would not repeat, Mr Gan said there would be stricter monitoring. He added that a taskforce, headed by Minister of State for Health Chee Hong Tat, was set up in December last year to strengthen outbreak detection and response. It will undertake a “review of the list of notifiable diseases under the Infectious Diseases Act and the modes of notification, timelines and escalation process”. The taskforce is expected to finish its work by June this year.
MOH has also set up a National Outbreak Response Team, comprising experts from across the healthcare fraternity, on March 1 this year, to augment the efforts of healthcare institutions to deal with disease outbreaks.
These measures were implemented following an Independent Review Committee’s (IRC) findings, submitted in a report to MOH on December 5, last year. The IRC, which was set up as a result of the Hepatitis C outbreak, found that the outbreak was due to multiple overlapping factors, including gaps in infection control procedures and protocols at SGH’s renal ward.
This, in response to Non-Constituency MP Leon Perera’s request to reveal the names of the staff involved in the Hepatitis C outbreak in the Singapore General Hospital’s (SGH) renal ward between last April and June. He said that revealing the names would not benefit patients or caregivers.
Without giving names or specific designations, Mr Gan said: “Naming the staff does not contribute to better care of patients. We have to bear in mind the long-term impact on healthcare patients and caregivers.” Singapore needs to have a “learning culture” in order to “improve the system”, he added.
Mr Gan also did not specify disciplinary sanctions beyond what was given before – that 12 SGH staff in leadership positions and four Ministry of Health (MOH) senior officers were given either “warnings, stern warnings or financial penalties“. Warnings were recorded in the staff service records while stern warnings had a more negative impact on the staff’s career and could affect future promotions and awards. Either two warnings could be imposed together with financial penalties.
“But the greatest penalty is not these disciplinary measures. For everyone involved, including those who had provided direct care to the affected patients, we will carry with us the pain and regret of this incident for a long time,” Mr Gan said.
In a press statement last month, SGH said that it had meted out disciplinary sanctions to 12 staff in leadership positions for the gaps in their roles in managing the outbreak or infection control. MOH also said in another press statement that the four senior officers in the ministry were disciplined for “their failure to intervene early and to ensure the infectious disease notification and reporting system was effective and rigorous”.
MOH, however, did not disclose further information, including the names of the staff involved, citing “staff and patient confidentiality norms”. It only added that “disciplinary actions were…based on the specific roles, responsibilities and job nature of the officers, as well as the nature of the incident and the impact of their actions in this episode” and that “those with higher level of responsibilities have received heavier penalties”.
Preventive measures
In reply to Tampines GRC Member of Parliament Cheng Li Hui’s enquiry about measures put in place to ensure incidents like the Hepatitis C outbreak would not repeat, Mr Gan said there would be stricter monitoring. He added that a taskforce, headed by Minister of State for Health Chee Hong Tat, was set up in December last year to strengthen outbreak detection and response. It will undertake a “review of the list of notifiable diseases under the Infectious Diseases Act and the modes of notification, timelines and escalation process”. The taskforce is expected to finish its work by June this year.
MOH has also set up a National Outbreak Response Team, comprising experts from across the healthcare fraternity, on March 1 this year, to augment the efforts of healthcare institutions to deal with disease outbreaks.
These measures were implemented following an Independent Review Committee’s (IRC) findings, submitted in a report to MOH on December 5, last year. The IRC, which was set up as a result of the Hepatitis C outbreak, found that the outbreak was due to multiple overlapping factors, including gaps in infection control procedures and protocols at SGH’s renal ward.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.