Nurses' performance grading

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1545
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON OR AFTER 30 NOVEMBER 2022

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang
MP for Nee Soon GRC

Question No. 3844

To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether feedback from patients and their families is taken into consideration in a nurse’s performance grading; (b) if so, what is the weightage given to such feedback in a nurse’s performance grading; and (c) how are nurses protected against unfair feedback or abuse by patients or visitors.

Answer

Nurses’ performance appraisal is holistic and includes various key areas such as the provision of timely and quality patient care, display of leadership capabilities, and professional and personal development. While institutions take feedback from patients and their family members seriously, this is not used to directly determine the performance grade that a nurse receives.

In general, feedback from patients and their family members is considered an integral part of quality and care improvement for public healthcare institutions. Positive feedback is conveyed to nurses and care team to recognise their efforts as well as to encourage and motivate them to keep up the good work. On the other hand, negative feedback is looked into in case there is a need to address any gaps in quality of care in the spirit of continuous improvement.

As for abuse and harassment, our public healthcare institutions take a serious stance against this and staff are encouraged to report such instances to their supervisor, or appropriate whistleblowing channels if necessary. These will be looked into fairly, as it is crucial to protect and support staff against abusive patients or family members accompanying patients. When necessary, police reports have been lodged before, and the police to conduct further investigations or actions to be taken.