No lapses in clinical care but NUH to improve patient communication after couple lost unborn baby: Janil Puthucheary

SINGAPORE — Investigations carried out by the National University Hospital (NUH) following the death of a couple’s unborn child found that while there were no lapses in clinical care processes, the hospital could have improved the way it communicates with its patients, Dr Janil Puthucheary said.

The Senior Minister of State for Health and for Communications and Information also said in Parliament on Tuesday (April 5) that the hospital has addressed this gap and instituted changes to their processes to ensure that relevant information is provided in a timely manner.

It will also be done so in a way that is “more acceptable to the patients and their families”, he added.

The changes came after the NUH team investigated how it had communicated with the couple — such as through the provision of information and reassurance — and found there were “indeed ways they (the hospital)” could have improved on it, Dr Puthucheary said.

This review of its processes was done in consultation with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and its director of medical services Kenneth Mak.

“The lessons will be learned and shared across our healthcare system,” Dr Puthucheary added.

He was responding to a parliamentary question by Ms Hazel Poa, Progress Singapore Party’s Non-Constituency Member of Parliament, who asked what the findings were of the investigation into the case and what steps will be taken to prevent future recurrences.

Last month, a man who went by the Facebook username “Mee Pok Tah” claimed at first that his wife was bleeding and lost their unborn baby while waiting at the NUH’s emergency department.

Later, in his Facebook post on March 31, he clarified that contrary to what he had initially written on March 21, where he claimed that his wife was left unattended at the emergency medicine department of NUH, “the nurses did check on my wife at intervals”.

He added that based on information provided by NUH, the death of the unborn baby “may not have occurred” at the hospital’s emergency unit.

Member of Parliament (MP) Edward Chia of Holland-Bukit Timah Group Representation Constituency (GRC) said that he had spoken to the man, who is a resident of his Zhenghua ward.

He told the House that it was never the man’s intention to cause any blame on the hospital or healthcare workers.

Rather, his intention was to seek answers for the two hours of waiting time at NUH’s emergency department.

“He was unable to seek answers, or any response over a period of five days, and this included the time when his wife was being treated at the high dependency ward,” Mr Chia said. “He finally got a response from a patient care officer when his post went viral.”

Following this incident, Mr Chia asked whether MOH will be “improving the provision of critical information to patients in a timely manner with empathy”.

To this, Dr Puthucheary repeated his earlier response to Ms Poa.

In a supplementary question, Dr Wan Rizal, MP of Jalan Besar GRC, asked how healthcare workers can be better protected from similar incidents such as when alternative news website Wake Up, Singapore published unverified allegations against KK Women's and Children's Hospital over a miscarriage case.

When this post went viral, it resulted in the castigation of healthcare workers, he said. 

The website was eventually issued a Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) correction for this false claim.

Dr Puthucheary said that all of these allegations and comments do need to be investigated.

“I think we should not take the view that somehow we shouldn't look into them.

"We should look into them. We must investigate the process, because that is our duty to the patients and the families that we care for.” 

He added that the best protection for healthcare workers is a quick and thorough establishing of the facts.

While the processes to investigate and follow up on such incidents “are well-known to our healthcare system and our healthcare staff”, Dr Puthucheary acknowledged that it can be taxing and draining on the healthcare workers involved.

To support them, there are counselling and psychological support services available.

“At root, however, it would be helpful if when allegations and incidents are raised, that these are based on facts rather than speculation,” Dr Puthucheary said.