A five-week dash

The newly-built North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong Infection Control Centre (HKICC) was handed over to the HA by the Government in late January, giving the teams just five weeks to get it ready to go into service. Under this extraordinarily tight deadline, colleagues had to work incredibly hard, doing extended overtime and stretching their abilities to the limit, to prepare the HKICC for its service commencement.

After the months-long marathon efforts to get the HKICC ready, Man Ho-yin, Senior Nursing Officer (Central Nursing Division) at North Lantau Hospital, worked with more than 60 nursing and supporting staff from seven clusters to prepare wards, check equipment, confirm work processes, and conduct staff training in the five weeks leading to the hospital’s launch. He says, “When we first met colleagues from different clusters, most of them said they joined on their own initiative, which was a great surprise. I would like to sincerely thank my colleagues for showing such unity. It is only with everyone’s concerted efforts that we have been able to put together a team from various hospitals and departments in a short period of time.”

Among the staff who volunteered to join the team was Becky Chan, Department Operations Manager (Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine) at Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital. “I experienced SARS, and I believe that only when we fight together can we win the battle,” she says, “it is inspiring to work with specialist colleagues and see their expertise. Everyone has been willing to put aside their existing work habits and discuss the best ward procedures with each other, such as consider patients’ height when posting infection control tips in toilet cubicles. I greatly cherish these learning opportunities.”

The opening of the HKICC has offered an opportunity to launch ’paperless wards’ to reduce an overload of complicated paperwork that often exists in hospital wards. By introducing paperless wards, workflow planning is improved, medical records are easier to store, and infection control measures can be more effective, explains Lai Tin-wai, Senior Nursing Officer (Planning and Commissioning) of the Kowloon West Cluster. With the support of clinical professionals as well as IT and administrative departments, it took less than two months to develop and integrate the HA’s computer system so that 90% of workspaces at the HKICC are paperless.

Global demand for laboratory supplies and equipment has been intense since the beginning of the outbreak, making it essential to secure the equipment needed for the HKICC. “As soon as we heard last year that the HKICC would soon go into services, our colleagues from all departments worked together to prepare,” says Alex Ho, Scientific Officer (Medical) in Princess Margaret Hospital Department of Pathology. COVID-19 testing equipment is in particularly high demand and was only secured after a series of meetings with the manufacturers, he says.

The HKICC now has five testing machines, the most advanced of which is a polymerase chain reaction machine, the first cobas 8800 model in Hong Kong and capable of testing 960 samples in eight hours. The testing rate is 2.5 times of the earlier models of the machine, greatly improving testing capacity.