Hospitals hit as 'ancient' system fails yet again

The Hospital Authority's patient record system broke down for two hours yesterday, affecting thousands of patients as public hospitals try to clear a backlog caused by the pandemic.

Medical workers were unable to log into the Clinical Management System, which showed a message reading: "All CMS functions are not available until further notice."

Hospital services were affected, as medical staff had to write X-rays and blood test arrangements for patients, as well as prescriptions, on paper.

They also had to input patients' records into computers manually when the system was repaired.

In a statement, the authority said the system was disrupted at noon yesterday and its employees were unable to access the system to save or retrieve patients' medical records.

It added that some patients experienced longer waiting times or had to reschedule their appointments, but emergency services were not affected.

The authority said all systems resumed normal operation at around 2pm yesterday after urgent repairs and restarting of the CMS.

It apologized to the public for the inconvenience caused to patients during the system disruption and said it will conduct an in-depth investigation into the incident.

The chairman of patients' group Hong Kong Patients' Voices, Lam Chi-yau, said yesterday that around 5,000 people see doctors at public hospitals' emergency departments every day.

Lam criticized the authority for failing to fix hospitals' computer system stability, as similar incidents have occurred in recent years, and urged the government to explain the incident to the public.

Nurse Lau Hoi-man from the Hong Kong Allied Health Professionals and Nurses Association said that the CMS was introduced more than 20 years ago and is an "ancient" computer system.

A similar incident also happened on August 28, when the CMS system was disrupted for around 1 hours due to a network problem.

Medical workers were unable to access the system and were forced to take patients' medical histories verbally and input medical records manually.