Dr. Hagar Mizrahi, the head of the medical division at the Ministry of Health who is leading the examination of the matter, examined the entirety of the data and decided that despite the many corrective actions taken by Assuta Rishon Lezion, there are still deficiencies that could harm the safety and health of the patients.
The shortcomings:
- Poor work processes in the laboratory.
- Significant overcrowding in the fertility laboratory.
- The absence of a computerized clinical file to manage the medical record.
As I recall, in mid-October the control report of the Ministry of Health was sent to the unit according to which there are issues that meet the medical standard and it is required to preserve them, and on the other hand there are areas where significant safety deficiencies were found that require immediate correction. Patient identification processes and medical documentation are missing. Among other things, it was found that the standardization in the unit is lacking, that the unit suffers from physical overcrowding and engineering infrastructures that are not adequate for the number of cases treated in the unit, and that all of these are contributing factors to deficiencies in the safety of treatment.
Today, Dr. Mizrahi informed Assuta Medical Centers that in order to safeguard the welfare of patients at Assuta Rishon Lezion Hospital as well as to protect public health, it was decided that it would be possible to allow the unit to continue operating, but that the unit’s treatment cycles must be halved. Mizrahi explained at the press conference held today that it is not possible to close the unit in light of the fact that this would require the movement of frozen embryos, which could cause harm to them and, on the other hand, could sever the relationship between the doctor and the therapist who accompanied the patient and whom she trusts, thus breaking the therapeutic sequence .
The Ministry of Health will further examine these guidelines and examine the renewed expansion of the service in the unit if substantial changes are made, including:
1. Correcting the work processes in the unit, with an emphasis on identifying, documenting and upgrading physical infrastructure processes and improving work processes with the aim of preventing mistakes and for the benefit of creating a sequence of processes that are comfortable for employees.
2. Operation of fully computerized clinical files, including a clinic and laboratory, which will enable orderly medical record monitoring.
If there is a substantial change in these parameters, the office will examine the possibility of expanding the scope of activity after an inspection of the unit. Depending on the nature of the change and its scope, it will be possible to consider increasing the activity, in the current structure and scope of the workforce, up to 75% of the scope of the original treatment cycles performed at the hospital.
Dr. Mizrahi also emphasized that there are additional actions that Assuta Rishon Lezion must complete as soon as possible in front of the relevant professional bodies in the Ministry of Health.