LAUNCH OF IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE FOR THE PREVENTION OF ABUSE AND HARASSMENT OF HEALTHCARE WORKERS IN COMMUNITY CARE

The Tripartite Workgroup for the Prevention of Abuse and Harassment of Healthcare Workers has launched an Implementation Guide for the community care sector to protect community care workers. The Implementation Guide will support Community Care Organisations (CCOs) in fostering a safer and more supportive work environment for their healthcare workers, with standardised zero-tolerance policies and protocols.

2. Established in December 2023, the Tripartite Framework for the Prevention of Abuse and Harassment in Healthcare protects healthcare workers by adopting:

a. A common definition of abuse and harassment to identify, classify and report such incidents in a consistent manner;

b. A zero-tolerance approach with standardised protocols for healthcare institutions to deal decisively with such incidents, ranging from immediate incident response, reporting to post-incident management; and

c. Follow-up actions to be taken against perpetrators to protect healthcare workers and those around them.

3. The Implementation Guide for healthcare institutions was subsequently developed, and the public healthcare clusters have since updated their protocols across their hospitals and institutions to protect their healthcare workers against abuse and harassment.

Implementation Guide for the Community Care Sector

4. Over the past year, the Ministry of Health and Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) have partnered with community care sector leaders to contextualise the Implementation Guide for the CCOs. CCOs’ staff work across a diverse range of care settings, such as nursing homes, active ageing centres, hospices, and home care services.

5. The Implementation Guide has been adapted to address unique challenges faced by community care workers, including safety protocols for home-based care settings where staff work in clients' residences. Special consideration has also been given to managing situations involving clients with dementia or diminished mental capacity, who form a significant proportion of community care service users.

6. The Implementation Guide will be circulated by AIC to all CCOs in June 2025, who are strongly encouraged to implement the recommendations.