Naming those responsible in Hep C outbreak won’t boost patient care: Health Minister
While reiterating the disciplinary actions taken against staff and officers responsible for the Hepatitis C outbreak at the Singapore General Hospital last October, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong did not reveal the names of those penalised during the Parliament sitting on Monday (4 April).
Gan also did not elaborate on the specific sanctions imposed, saying that such blame culture does not contribute to better care of patients.
He also stressed the importance of making sure that healthcare workers learn from their mistakes and avoid repeating them, instead of “naming individuals and developing a blame culture in our healthcare institutions”.
Gan, who was responding to questions posed by Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Leon Perrera and Member of Parliament Cheng Li Hui, said, “We need to encourage a learning culture to make our hospitals as safe as possible for the patients. The culture of continuing learning and improvement is important when enhancing patient safety and healthcare.”
Last October, a Hepatitis C outbreak affected 25 renal ward patients at the Singapore General Hospital. Eight of these patients died.
An independent review committee that was set up to investigate the incident later concluded that the outbreak was caused by gaps in infection prevention and control practices at the hospital.
A dozen hospital leaders and four Ministry of Health officers were held responsible following the outbreak.
The hospital leaders were held responsible for failure to enforce a strong infection control regime and incident escalation protocols in the hospital, while the officers were responsible for the failure to intervene early, and to ensure that infectious disease notification and reporting system was effective and rigorous.
Disciplinary actions which included warnings, stern warnings and financial penalties were imposed on these individuals.
Gan explained that when a warning is issued to a staff, it will be lodged in the staff’s service record. For stern warnings, the staff will also have difficulties receiving future promotions and awards.
Gan did not reveal the amount of the financial penalties given.
“The greatest penalty is not disciplinary measures for everyone involved, including those who have provided direct care to the affected patients. We will carry with us the pain and regret of this incident for a long time to come,” he said.
Gan also announced safety measures SGH has taken following the outbreak. These include enhancing processes, strengthening cleaning and decontamination, enhancing re-education and retraining program for staff and implementing stricter monitoring of infection control.
“To verify the systems are robust, SGH has engaged consultants from the Joint Commission International Accreditation and Consultancy organisation to conduct a thorough review and assessment of clinical processes,” said Gan.
A task force headed by Minister of State for Health Chee Hong Tat was set up last December to enhance the national healthcare system’s ability to detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks in hospitals and in the community.
