The Hospital Authority (HA) on Monday announced a series of smart measures in accident and emergency departments and wards to better monitor patients and reduce medical mishaps.

Among them is a geofencing system aimed at preventing dementia patients from wandering off which will be used in all hospitals by the end of this year.

If a patient with a special wristband walks too close to an exit door, an alarm will sound to alert hospital staff, said the authority's director of quality and safety Michael Wong.

"If they get away from our accident and emergency departments, it will be very difficult for us to find them. And they might have some accident or deterioration during the missing period," he said.

Wong said the authority will expand its use of smart oxygen cylinders with alarms that activate when the main switch isn't turned on before use.

"If the gas is nearly empty, it will also have an alarm. It will ensure that our staff will turn on the main switch and ensure that if the gas is running out, we will replace a new one as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, the authority is also implementing a new reporting system that will use AI and big data to analyse trends and patterns in medical blunders.

"We can make use of the data to have early trending and to find out the common contributing factors to incidents so as to prevent future similar events from happening," said Raymond Cheung, a chief manager with the authority.