New Hong Kong Hospital Authority chief vows to foster staff ‘speak-up’ culture

The new chief of Hong Kong’s public hospitals has vowed to foster a “speak-up” culture among staff as part of efforts to boost patient safety, while expressing hope that one day no one in the organisation will need to be a whistle-blower.

Dr Libby Lee Ha-yun, who took office as the Hospital Authority’s chief executive at the start of the month, said on Friday that she hoped services would be offered more from the patients’ perspective while further considering their opinions.

She said fostering a culture of speaking up was part of the work on improving patient safety.

“How to make staff feel comfortable and then trust there is no consequence even if they speak up,” Lee said.

She said the change in culture could start from daily meetings, with staff encouraged to speak their minds.

“We have an open and transparent system for discussion, with logical arguments. Sometimes we need to agree to disagree,” she said.