SPEECH BY DR AMY KHOR, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE, MINISTRY OF HEALTH, AT THE COMMUNITY CARE MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT AWARDS CEREMONY 2018, 5 SEPTEMBER 2018

Mr Tan Kwang Cheak, Deputy CEO, Agency for Integrated Care (AIC),

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen, 

    Good morning. I am pleased to join you at the annual Community Care Manpower Development Award (CCMDA) ceremony.

2.            I would like to first offer my heartiest congratulations to our award recipients this year.  I am truly encouraged to see that the number of CCMDA recipients has almost doubled, from last year’s 60 recipients to 109 recipients this year. This reflects the passion and desire of our community care staff to upgrade their professional skills, pursue lifelong learning and deliver better care and service to our seniors. It also underscores the strong support of our community care employers for the professional development of their staff and their recognition of the importance of building capabilities and investing in their staff.

Meeting the Manpower Challenges within a Rapidly Evolving Sector

3.            Today, one in seven Singaporeans is aged 65 and above. By 2030, this number will grow to one in four Singaporeans. An ageing population presents the twin challenges of an increasing demand for community care services and a shrinking local healthcare workforce. The Ministry of Health (MOH) and Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) have introduced various schemes to meet these challenges and partner with our community care employers to better attract, retain and develop their workforce. 

4.            Since 2012, AIC has embarked on efforts to improve public perception, introduce programmes to attract and recruit more locals, and build manpower capabilities in the sector.  MOH also implemented salary adjustment exercises over the years to ensure that salaries for our local community care staff are more competitive.

5.            These efforts were further intensified in recent years. For instance, since 2015, employers can tap on increased funding support under the manpower recruitment and training initiatives to recruit and train new local support care staff. Under these initiatives, community care employers receive funding to send newly recruited local support staff for structured training, and are also given $10,000 in On-the-Job Training support to facilitate the induction and mentorship of each of these new local staff. In addition, the new hire will be eligible for a retention bonus of $3,000 at the end of his first year of service. As a result of these efforts, about 1,000 locals were successfully recruited into the community care sector last year, of whom 250 were hired into support care roles. 

6.            We also need to transform work processes and drive innovations in delivering services to help staff be more effective at work. Supported by the Healthcare Productivity Fund (HPF), AIC plays an active facilitator role to help community care employers adopt technology and assistive equipment, streamline work processes and aggregate demand for products to achieve cost savings for patients. As at March 2018, about $60 million from the HPF has been committed to support the community care sector in various productivity efforts. For instance, to help therapists better support patients during rehabilitation exercises, Jamiyah Nursing Home has tapped on HPF to adopt air-resistance powered Pneumatic Rehabilitation Equipment System to facilitate strength training exercises for its clients. The system is computerised to automatically document client’s rehabilitation progress, saving therapists’ time spent on manual documentation. MOH and AIC will continue to partner community care employers to sustain efforts in healthcare productivity by scaling up proven initiatives and encouraging more innovations.

Investing in Continuous Skills Upgrading for all Staff

7.            As the community care sector grows and evolves, we also need to ensure that our staff are equipped with the skills and knowledge needed for their changing roles. Improving and updating the skills of our community care workforce not only provides better care for our seniors, but also enables staff to take on expanded and higher-skilled roles, contributing to their personal and career progression. It is therefore important for the community care sector to invest in continuous skills upgrading of their staff. 

A.   Continued Training and Development for Healthcare Professionals

8.            AIC strongly supports our community care employers in sending their staff to embark on further training so that as healthcare professionals, they can keep up with the latest clinical practices and upgrade their knowledge and skills. They in turn can help to strengthen their employers’ and the sector’s capabilities.  

9.            Senior Staff Nurse Siti Rohaidah Binte Mohamad is one such example. She joined Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital in 2011 after graduating with a Diploma in Health Sciences (Nursing), and has continued to further her studies with her employer’s support. Siti took up a scholarship under the then-Social and Health Manpower Development Programme-ILTC (SHMDP-ILTC) in 2013 to pursue her studies in Advanced Diploma in Nursing (Orthopedics). This continuous upgrading of skills has contributed to Siti’s career progression, and she was later appointed Acting Nurse Clinician of the hospital’s Stroke Rehabilitation Unit. With the support of her employer and CCMDA, Siti is now pursuing the Bachelor of Science (Nursing) at Curtin Singapore. She hopes to be a good mentor to junior nurses upon completion of her studies. Congratulations and well done, Siti.

B.   Providing Upskilling Opportunities for Support Care Staff

10.         Apart from our healthcare professionals, our support care staff is also a critical part of our community care sector. In fact, in the context of the community care sector, support care staff work with nurses to provide much of the direct care to our seniors. It is therefore important for us to empower our support care workforce by equipping them with the necessary skills to allow them to better care for our seniors. 

11.         Together with the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), we recently introduced the Work-Learn Technical Diploma (WLTD) in Rehabilitation Care to facilitate skills upgrading for Therapy Aids (TAs). This programme marks a first step in improving the skills and career pathway of TAs, and prepares them to take on larger roles in the provision of rehabilitation care to our seniors. Graduates of the WLTD may advance in their careers to take on senior TA positions if they perform well on the job.

12.         I am pleased to share that 21 support care staff from 9 community care organisations have been enrolled in this new programme since its launch in April this year. Mdm Chu Yee Hoon, a TA at Metta Welfare Association (MWA), is one of these enrollees. Previously a homemaker, she started out as a General Worker at MWA when she rejoined the workforce. Over time, Mdm Chu found the work fulfilling and aspired to do more. In 2011, she completed the WSQ Higher Certificate in Therapy Services with the support of her employer, and served as a TA after graduating. Now in her fifties, Mdm Chu is happy that she has opportunities to pursue further studies at the diploma level. Mdm Chu is not here with us this morning as she is taking an examination now. I wish Mdm Chu all the best in her studies!

C.        Empowering Staff To Take On New Skills and Roles

13.         To better support the skills upgrading for our community care staff, AIC has expanded the scope of training programmes supported under CCMDA since last year. We have since received applications for a broader spectrum of courses in different specialisation areas, such as rehabilitation counselling. The interest for these programmes reflects the dynamism of roles and work within our community care sector.  

14.         As the social and healthcare needs of our seniors are intertwined, we are also taking steps to improve the integration of health and social care provision. The transfer of functions from Ministry of Social Family Development (MSF) to MOH and the transfer of the Silver Generation Office into AIC in April this year represent our strategic intent in this aspect. The nature of work in the community care sector will evolve to be more multi-disciplinary and diverse. Beyond delivering healthcare, community care staff will also need to help manage the psychosocial needs of our seniors to bring about person-centered care.

15.         An increasingly valuable skill for community care staff is the ability to work well across both social and health domains. As a Social Work Assistant in Peacehaven Nursing Home, Charlene Tham’s core work was focused on assessing seniors’ mental and social-wellbeing. Through her many interactions with the seniors, she realised that being able to perform daily activities independently was a key contributor to their wellbeing. She began to take a keen interest in therapy work, and was subsequently involved in planning exercise programmes at Peacehaven. Her supervisor, on learning of her interest, supported her CCMDA application to enrol in the Singapore Institute of Technology’s degree course in Occupational Therapy. Charlene is now looking forward to this course, and hopes to marry her newfound knowledge from the course with her work experience in delivering holistic care to more seniors. 

Conclusion

16.         This is indeed an exciting time to be working in the community sector. As our care models evolve, our manpower must also adapt and upskill to meet emerging needs. Our staff are at the heart of care transformation, and we will continue to support their development through schemes such as CCMDA. 

17.         I want to encourage more community care employers to tap on the CCMDA to develop your staff, and empower them to rise to the challenges that come with new and expanding roles. In doing so, I hope that our community care staff can also find greater personal satisfaction at work, fulfill their career aspirations, and contribute to providing better care for our community. 

Thank you.