Hepatitis C outbreak: Disciplinary action taken against senior staff in MOH, SGH
SINGAPORE: The Singapore General Hospital (SGH) on Thursday (Mar 17) announced it had meted out disciplinary sanctions to 12 staff in leadership positions, following the Hepatitis C outbreak during last April to June. Four Ministry of Health senior officers were also disciplined.
In a press release, the hospital said the disciplinary actions against 12 staff in leadership positions, including senior SGH management, were stern warnings and financial penalties for gaps in their roles in managing the outbreak or in infection control.
"The affected staff have accepted the penalties," it added.
The Ministry of Health said in a separate press release that four MOH officers holding Director-level or equivalent roles were also disciplined for "their failure to intervene early and to ensure the infectious disease notification and reporting system was effective and rigorous".
The sanctions included warnings, stern warnings and financial penalties. "The four officers have accepted the outcomes," MOH said.
CORRECTIVE ACTIONS IN PLACE
SGH said following the release of the Independent Review Committee's (IRC) investigation, Chairman of the SingHealth Board of Directors Peter Seah had appointed a Human Resource (HR) Panel to examine the roles, responsibilities and actions of key SGH staff to assess if disciplinary actions need to be taken.
The Panel carefully examined the roles and responsibilities of key SGH staff, taking into account the findings and conclusions of the IRC report. Interview sessions were conducted with the key staff involved to understand their perspectives and rationale for decisions made and/or actions taken, the hospital said.
The Panel also made wide-ranging observations and recommendations to further strengthen the hospital’s infection control and disease outbreak surveillance and management mechanisms.
Ongoing steps taken to improve current infection control measures include:
Instituting regular, thorough cleaning and disinfection of potentially contaminated surfaces, with clearer roles and responsibilities for who should undertake the cleaning
Introducing enhanced education and training programmes, including curriculum for all new staff
Improving supervision and monitoring of practices such as hand hygiene practices
Use of needle-less connectors hospital-wide
The hospital said it has started an enhanced hospital-wide infection control education and training programme, with annual online competency assessment. Regular audits will be conducted to ensure compliance, it added.
In addition to cross-institutional audits within SingHealth, SGH also engaged Joint Commission International (JCI) consultants to review the Renal Unit’s clinical processes, including renal transplant and infection control practices, the hospital said.
"The hospital will make full use of the suggestions and recommendations by JCI consultants in its continuing efforts to enhance practices," it said.
- CNA/kk
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