Local hospital rising up to the challenge of its time
Press release: 8 November 2004
Hong Kong Tseung Kwan O Hospital’s Filmless Operation awarded certification to BS 7799 for its PACS (Picture Archiving & Communication System).
Hong Kong, 1st November 2004 -- Leading global developer of standards and provider of international certification and assessment services, BSI announced today it has awarded Tseung Kwan O Hospital, Filmless Operation’s PACS (Picture Archiving & Communications System) with BS 7799 certification. The award ceremony was held at the Tseung Kwan O Hospital in the presence of the top management of the hospital authority and other hospital chiefs of other Hong Kong’s hospitals. Mr Duncan Lilley, Managing Director of BSI Management System Asia Pacific presented the award at the ceremony.
Mr Lo Chung Hing, S.B.S. Chairman of the Hospital Governing Committee, Dr. Lilian Leong, President of HK College of Radiologists and Dr. David Lam Hospital, Chief Executive were all present at the ceremony to receive the award. Dr. Lam commented after the ceremony that, “We were pleasantly surprised that TKO Hospital’s PACS has become the world’s first to be certified to the BS 7799 standard. We certainly hope that many more from our healthcare sectors will follow suit as it is an act of responsibility. I see subjecting our PACS to the scrutiny of a well-recognised third party registrar is the only sure way to get an authoritative and impartial evaluation of our information security management system. Having gone through the certification, I can only comment how positive the exercise has been and would say that this value-adding step should never be missed. We were able to correct things that we had not previously anticipated as a result. The responsibility that comes with the public and the patients’ trust is immense. Yet, we also have to ensure that the needs of our physicians and medical practitioners for efficient but secure access are catered for at the same time. Opting for certification is a sure way to demonstrate our commitment to excellence and understanding of our responsibilities. In hindsight, we are grateful that our HA (Hospital Authority) management have had the foresight to allow TKO Hospital to set up its Filmless Operation and embrace a modern PACS system.”
Dr. Leong spoke during the ceremony about the Authority’s vision for the future. She also talked about the need for the extension of the PACS service to the other two hospitals within the East Kowloon Cluster. Mr. Lo also took the opportunity to encourage our healthcare managers at the event that “This achievement was only made possible with the participation and co-operation among all the staff at TKO Hospital, consultants involved and that such success and best practices should spread among the HA hospitals”.
BSI’s Mr. Duncan Lilley also congratulated TKO Hospital on its certification. This is the result of the hard work of the Radiology Department of TKOH to support the hospital wide image distribution service. “We welcome TKO Hospital to join the 400 other organisations in the world that have been awarded BS 7799 certification by BSI. Certifications around the world for this standard are quickly picking up and there are over 800 awards currently. We are confident that this milestone will enable BSI to facilitate the development of the healthcare sector in Asia to make its mark in the international arena.”
BSI is the first national standard body in the world. It also provides registrations worldwide on quality, environment, health and safety, IT service, telecommunication, food safety and so on. ISO 9000 was based on BS 5750 and it is now the world’s most widely adopted standard, endorsed by over 500,000 organizations. More than 112 of the top Global 500 companies have chosen BSI as their preferred ISO 9000 registrar. Likewise, BS 7799 was developed by BSI back in 1996.
Since its inception, TKO Hospital has been working towards its mission “To provide a level of care and services good enough for our own parents, without the need for special arrangements”. This certification will no doubt provide a new benchmark for other local hospitals and another new impetus for its continuous improvement.
About Tseung Kwan O Hospital
The decision to build TKO Hospital was announced by the then Governor in his 1994 Policy Address. It commenced operations in phases on the 28 December 1999. TKO is a secondary care hospital with a strong community focus. TKO Hospital is clustered with two other local hospitals in the area to form the Hong Kong Hospital Authority Kowloon East Cluster serving the growing population in the Sai Kung and Tseung Kwan O districts. TKO Hospital is committed to foster cooperation with other healthcare partners in providing seamless healthcare to the community.
