Authors (including presenting author) :
Lau ST (1), Lau SW (1), Wong LK (1), Law KY(1), Wong WY(1), Chan FS (1), Fan WS (1), Wong YL (1)
Affiliation :
(1)Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital
Introduction :
To vacate East and North Wings of Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital (OLMH) for the commencement of Main Works in the OLMH Redevelopment Project, the hospital has undergone two decanting stages, namely Stage 1 and Stage 2.
In Stage 1 decanting, the services on 1/F and 2/F of Out-patient Block Building were decanted for the Alternation and Additions Works so that the block could be converted to house Allied Health and Support Service to continue serving out-patient services during the Main Works. In Stage 2 decanting, in-patient services were decanted to other KCC Hospitals with part of allied health services relocated to the decanted sites to support the decanted in-patient services.
The Out-patient Block Building remains in function during the Main Works. The whole project, including the Out-patient Block refurbishment after the completion of the New Block, was expected to complete in December 2027 based on the project milestone presented in November 2022.
Objectives :
With the consideration of the growing demand of patient services in Wong Tai Sin District, the KCC management decided to maximize the number of OLMH beds and service sessions decanted to cater the service need.
In addition to maintain a smooth transition of clinical and non-clinical services from OLMH to other KCC hospitals, quality and safety was a key element to sustain in the decanting exercise. Patient safety and high quality service was required to maintain regardless of the service location.
Staff was required to deploy to the receiving hospitals to support the decanted services. Performance enhancement was expected via the synergy provided by manpower deployment.
Methodology :
By setting up various working groups with stakeholders of OLMH and the receiving hospitals, a platform was created to discuss, compromise and reach consensus on the decanting arrangement and logistics, especially when facing the challenges brought by the COVID-19 situation.
To ensure smooth and safe transition of services, drills on patient transfer and trial run of endoscopy and operating theatre were conducted with the support of clinical, administrative services and information technology teams of cluster and hospitals.
To deal with the massive communication in the short decanting timeframe, HA Chat communication group was formed to provide the latest decanting information and keep the key stakeholders on the same page. Weekly debriefing sessions were also arranged along the relocation process so that the decanting arrangement could be adjusted and fine-tuned to meet the relocation schedule.
Staff’s willingness to be deployed to other KCC hospitals was surveyed and interviews with the staff involved were arranged from time to time to provide support and equip them to adopt the changes. Manpower was integrated with the teams of the receiving hospitals with synergy effect by reviewing/revising the workflow and strengthening the manpower.
From preparation to completion of the decanting exercise, all OLMH staff was well informed of the related information via staff forum, related meetings, newsletter and intranet webpage. By setting up a WhatsApp hotline, all staff were also welcome to provide feedback and suggestion to provide input on the decanting exercise.
Result & Outcome :
A total of 222 nos. of OLMH patient beds (i.e. 94% of a total of 236 nos. of beds), operating theatre service and endoscopy service were uneventfully decanted in May 2022.
The decanting of allied health services to OLMH’s Out-patient Block Building was completed in June 2022. The decanting of non-clinical departments, e.g. Information Technology, Human Resources, Housekeeping, Maintenance Unit, etc. was completed by August 2022.
Up to December 2022, no patient incident related to access, admission, transfer & discharge was reported from decanting units of OLMH. In addition, systems are now fully in place to ensure quality and safety of patient services in decanting units of OLMH.
