2004 Excellent Service Awards (Silver & Gold) Presentation Ceremony for the Healthcare Sector

04 Nov 2004

By Speaker: Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, Parliamentary Secretary (Health)

Venue: The Convention Centre of Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Opening Address by Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman, Parliamentary Secretary For Health And Community Development, Youth and Sports At the 2004 Excellent Service Awards (Silver & Gold) Presentation Ceremony for the Healthcare Sector At The Convention Centre of Ngee Ann Polytechnic On 4 November 2004 At 3.50 pm

Mr Pakir Singh, Chairman of EXSA 2004 Organizing Committee Chief Executive of Singapore Hotel Association,

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is my pleasure to join you today at this Excellent Service Award (EXSA) presentation ceremony for the healthcare sector.

This is the second year that the healthcare sector is represented in the Excellent Service Award. I take pride that for the first time, a special ceremony is organised for award recipients from the healthcare sector. This is because this year, we have a total of 1,368 Silver and Gold award winners compared to only 388 last year - a threefold increase in just one year! My sincere congratulations to all the winners.

The large number of recipients from the healthcare sector is a testimony to the importance placed on service excellence in our hospitals and clinics. Last year, only 10 healthcare institutions participated in the awards whereas this year, we have 14, including two from the private healthcare sector - Gleneagles and Mount Elizabeth hospitals.

I understand that all the healthcare institutions performed much better this year as well. For instance, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, which won the most number of awards for 2003 and 2004, saw an increase in the number of awards received from 292 in 2003 to 590 this year.

Service excellence as a critical success factor

As we strive to offer good and affordable healthcare to Singaporeans and seek to be the medical hub in the region, it is important to recognise service excellence as one of the critical success factors in healthcare management.

Undoubtedly, competitive cost structure and reliable medical outcomes are important to patients and their relatives. However, we must not forget that patients also expect a comfortable stay at a hospital, a hassle-free experience at the clinic and satisfying interactions with doctors, nurses and other healthcare personnel. Increasingly, patients are looking for that personal touch which will make their experience in hospitals less sterile. Health care provision must also now be seen from the perspective of the hospitality industry.

Unlike costs and outcomes, service excellence can be achieved by anyone at any level in the hierarchy, from the CEO to the health attendants. Hence, inculcating a culture of service excellence will empower individuals to give their level best and to serve their patients better. Excellent service performance from individuals in each institution will enhance the overall experience of patients in that institution, for they say, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Patient-centric approach for healthcare sector

The healthcare sector, like any other service sectors, needs to imbibe a customer-focused or patient-centric mindset. Institutions must ensure that patients leave their premises with a good feeling if they are to expect the patients to return for treatment in the future. These patients will also be their marketing agents, spreading their positive experience to their networks of friends and families. A bad encounter at any stage yyyyyy be it during registration, consultation, treatment, billing or after-care services - will leave the patient with a nasty impression of a particular institution. Hence, managing service excellence and expectations at every stage of the encounter is important.

Over the years, hospitals and polyclinics have embarked on various initiatives aimed at raising their service standards for their patients. These ranged from big structural changes such as implementing database systems for managing medical records and consolidating bills, to initiatives that are simpler to implement yet personal in nature. For instance, the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) offers a 24-hour hotline, 'Thank you' cards and well-designed care kits to its patients after their Lasik surgeries. IMH has begun to offer light snacks for patients seeking treatment in the evening at its Emergency Room. SGH and NUH, on the other hand, have put in place a system to keep family members of critical care patients regularly updated on the patients' developments. Such initiatives are the soft touches that will enhance the image of an institution.

Moreover, some of our public hospitals have won regional awards for their patient-centric initiatives. NUH, for example, bagged two Asian Innovation Management awards this year for reducing the number of patients who develop pneumonia while on a ventilator and in improving the waiting time for a CT scan. It was also granted accreditation from the Joint Commission International (JCI) in September, making it the first hospital in Singapore to receive an international recognition for quality and safe patient care. Meanwhile, CGH had won the most outstanding project in the IT/E-Commerce category at the 2004 Asian Hospital Management Awards for its Interactive Patient Guide (IPG). The IPG offers online information and advice on surgical procedures to CGH's patients.

Then, there are healthcare personnel who go beyond their call of duty to offer further assistance to their patients. These efforts should be encouraged as they support the principles of excellent service quality. Healthcare institutions, such as SGH and NHG Polyclinics, motivate its staff in this regard by giving out awards based on the compliments received from their patients. At the national level, we have awards like EXSA to inspire others to adopt such service quality mindset.

Leveraging on Technology

Many of our healthcare institutions have leveraged on technology to provide improved services to its patients. NUH has its Cardiology Information System (CIS) which allows cardiologists to make quick and more accurate assessment of their patients by their bedsides using tablet PCs. NHG Polyclinics have in place a system that allows for "One Registration and One Bill" where patients need only to pay at the end of their clinic visit, instead of at all their points of services, which was the situation before. Yet another example is the Electronic Medical Record Exchange (EMRX), which has been implemented across the public healthcare sector to allow doctors and nurses to have quick and accurate access to patients' medical records. This is to ensure safe patient care as well as treatments that are customised to their needs.

Other than harnessing the power of IT to streamline and consolidate processes and records, other healthcare institutions have also employed biomedical engineering to provide improved patient care and services. For example, SGH engineers had designed an innovative leg elevator that can be easily fitted and detached from the patient's bed so that patients can prop up their legs independently and with less pain and start ambulating earlier. In the past, patients had to call for assistance to get them out of bed to sit up and prop up their legs using visitors' chairs, which was a hassle.

At the National Heart Centre (NHC), nurses with the help of an engineer, designed an armrest for patients undergoing invasive cardiology procedures. The outcome is a self-invented armrest that not only provides greater comfort for the patients but also resulted in zero complaints of headaches from the patients.

Conclusion

I believe that our healthcare institutions are moving in the right direction by making their patients their top priority. While service excellence initiatives need not necessarily be technology-supported, institutions should bear in mind that certain procedures or process can be improved tremendously with the help of technology.

Let me now conclude by congratulating the award recipients at this year's EXSA awards. I hope that next year, we will have more healthcare institutions participating and even more awards being given out. For the gold award recipients, continue the excellent performance. For the silver recipients, I hope to see you receiving gold next year. Congratulations again to all winners.

Thank you.