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The Ministry of Health (MOH) has sent a "stern letter" reprimanding the head of KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) for the lack of supervision and oversight which resulted in two babies going home with the wrong parents last month.
The Ministry, in a statement following a press briefing on Wednesday afternoon on how two babies were swopped, said it found such a lapse "unacceptable".
The letter to Professor Kenneth Kwek was to register the ministry's "disappointment and concern on the lack of supervision and oversght, especially with regard to patient identity and safety in the nursery".
Two babies went home with the wrong parents on Nov 18. The mistake was discovered when one family noticed that the infant carried the name tags of two mothers - one on each ankle.
The babies and their real parents were reunited that night.
The hospital immediately set up an independent review committee to find out what had gone wrong. The four-member committee, headed by Professor Ho Lai Yun, a senior consultant at Singapore General Hospital, gave its findings yesterday. A ministry official sat in as observer during the committee's review.
The committee found a series of mistakes: the two babies were placed in the wrong cots in the nursery, a wrong tag was used to replace one baby's missing ankle tag, checks of the tags were not made at critical points, including when they were discharged.
Three nurses have been suspended for a week and taken off clinical work, six others as well as two ward managers have been given written warnings, and six more have been counselled following the incident.
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The Ministry, in a statement following a press briefing on Wednesday afternoon on how two babies were swopped, said it found such a lapse "unacceptable".
The letter to Professor Kenneth Kwek was to register the ministry's "disappointment and concern on the lack of supervision and oversght, especially with regard to patient identity and safety in the nursery".
Two babies went home with the wrong parents on Nov 18. The mistake was discovered when one family noticed that the infant carried the name tags of two mothers - one on each ankle.
The babies and their real parents were reunited that night.
The hospital immediately set up an independent review committee to find out what had gone wrong. The four-member committee, headed by Professor Ho Lai Yun, a senior consultant at Singapore General Hospital, gave its findings yesterday. A ministry official sat in as observer during the committee's review.
The committee found a series of mistakes: the two babies were placed in the wrong cots in the nursery, a wrong tag was used to replace one baby's missing ankle tag, checks of the tags were not made at critical points, including when they were discharged.
Three nurses have been suspended for a week and taken off clinical work, six others as well as two ward managers have been given written warnings, and six more have been counselled following the incident.
[email protected]
