Hospital Authority chief executive Libby Lee said on Thursday that new measures will be introduced to raise medical staff alertness, after a patient died at the Prince of Wales Hospital last week having choked on a regular meal instead of his prescribed pureed diet.

The patient, who had a history of dementia and stroke, was admitted to the hospital on September 16 due to a deteriorating mental state.

During a clinical assessment, a doctor mistakenly issued a "diet as tolerated" (DAT) order, which indicates that a patient can safely consume a regular diet regardless of the meal's texture or type.

A nursing staff member subsequently failed to check the patient's previous diet records, resulting in a regular meal being served to the patient, who eventually choked and passed away.

Speaking after a Hospital Authority board meeting, Lee described the incident as "highly sub-optimal" and a "huge shock" for the medical community.

She stressed that improvements are needed, but disagreed that the issue could be resolved simply by eliminating DAT orders.

"I am waiting for the investigation report, and we believe there are a lot of areas that can be improved. It is not going to solve the problem simply by removing DAT," Lee said.

"Maybe it is the overall awareness of medical staff, or the checks on patients. We will carry out measures to raise the alertness of medical staff and make sure they perform adequate body checks before feeding patients."

As for the faulty lifts at Queen Mary Hospital's new clinical block, Lee said several lifts have been repaired, and tests were now under way.

She added that services at the new building will only commence once all 28 lifts are proven to operate safely, and that it was too early to assess the long-term impact on the hospital's development.

Lee stressed that the hospital is merely an end-user in the redevelopment project, and played no supervisory role in the block's construction.

She added that current services at Queen Mary remain unaffected, although patients must bear with the old block's ageing facilities.



Edited by Raymond Yeung