MOH to continue to work on ways to support, develop and retain our healthcare workers

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1331
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 12 SEPTEMBER 2022

Name and Constituency of Member of ParliamentMr Louis Ng Kok KwangMP for Nee Soon GRC

Question No. 3289

To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether the Ministry has annual data in the past five years on the average number of times when nurses in public hospitals are rostered for an afternoon shift that ends in the evening and is immediately followed by a morning shift the next day in the (i) general wards and (ii) intensive care units; (b) if so, what are they; and (c) if this data is not available, whether the Ministry intends to collect it and, if not, why not.

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1298
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER

Name and Constituency of Member of ParliamentMr Seah Kian PengMP for Marine Parade GRC

 Question No. 3267

To ask the Minister for Health beyond increasing salaries for healthcare workers, what other new measures are being introduced to reduce burnout and improve their work-life balance.

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1318
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON OR AFTER 13 SEPTEMBER 2022

Name and Constituency of Member of ParliamentMr Louis Ng Kok KwangMP for Nee Soon GRC

Question No. 3295

To ask the Minister for Health on top of the Nurse Special Payment Package (a) whether the Ministry will study the Ministry of Education’s CONNECT Plan, which gives payout throughout a teacher’s career to incentivise them to stay in the teaching service, to see if a similar plan can be implemented to improve nurse retention rates; and (b) if not, why.

Answer

The rostering of nurses for shifts is managed by the hospitals which MOH does not and should not interfere.  Hospitals are operational environments, which have to address patient needs on a day-to-day basis. Generally, healthcare workers understand and embrace this, and will cover for each other occasionally when there is an operational need, even if it means a heavier workload.  A rigid system will result in compromising on patient care.

On Mr Ng’s suggestion in respect of the MOE Connect Plan, we would highlight that MOH regularly reviews and adjusts the compensation and benefits for healthcare workers to ensure that they remain competitive. Our most recent review saw the base salaries of nurses in the public healthcare sector enhanced between 5% to 14%, which was implemented over two phases in July 2021 and 2022.  We can study Mr Ng’s suggestion along with other options in future reviews.

We will continue to work on various ways to support, develop and retain our healthcare workers. We have to take a multi-pronged approach including ensuring staff wellbeing, regularly reviewing compensation, attracting foreign nurses to augment our local workforce and working with families and caregivers to alleviate the load on healthcare workers.