The Healthcare Cluster Tripartite Workgroup, launched in September 2012, has been busy implementing the various ladders – skills, productivity, career progression and wages – of the Progressive Wage Model over the past two years. The aim is to encourage productivity initiatives across the public healthcare sector, through the sharing and diffusion of best practices. The Workgroup also looked at increasing the employability and wages of lower-income healthcare support staff.
At the National Day Observance Ceremony hosted by National University Health System on Friday, 15 August 2014, the NTUC Healthcare Cluster took stock on the progress made so far in helping the three main groups of healthcare support staff – Health Attendants (HA), Healthcare Assistants (HCA) and Patient Service Associates (PSA) – using the Progressive Wage Model as a guide.
Diffusion of Projects – Up Productivity
Over the last two years, the Healthcare Cluster Tripartite Workgroup had focused its efforts on providing the 3 Ups – Up Skills, Up Career Progression and Up Productivity – for lower-wage healthcare support staff so that their jobs or tasks could be carried out Easier, Smarter and Safer and they can enjoy wage increases through these efforts.
The public healthcare institutions have piloted various projects during this period. This year, they have shared the progress of their initiatives and various projects have seen some form of ‘mass adoption’ across the clusters.
In his speech during the ceremony, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Patrick Tay cited three examples.
i) Pharmacy Stock Receiving System (NUH, TTSH)
The National University Hospital (NUH) piloted the use of a personal handheld device for the Pharmacy department to receive, pack and distribute drugs. This Pharmacy Stock Receiving System has been adopted by Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the work of their storekeepers is now less repetitive and manual.
ii) E-Portering (SGH, KKH)
The E-Portering project at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) was so successful that it will be taken up by the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH). Before this project, portering requests were done manually via faxes and hard-copy documents. With E-Portering in place, such requests and assignments are all now done on-line via computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs). This reduces paperwork and decreases the response time for porters to fulfil their job assignations.
iii) Sara Stedy and Calypso Chairs (TTSH, IMH, NUH)
The Sara Stedy and Calypso Chairs are familiar sights in various hospitals now. The Sara Stedy encourages patients to stand independently and helps with patient transfers while the Calypso Chairs minimise strain on our healthcare staff by making it easier to transfer patients.
To help PSAs move up a structured career ladder, several hospitals – National University Hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and Jurong Health Services – have implemented an enhanced career track with relevant training and coaching.
The Tripartite Workgroup believes that this enhancement will not only motivate staff but also help to boost retention as PSAs can envision a long-term career with their respective institution.
Target Reached
Using the Progressive Wage Model as a guide, the Healthcare Cluster Tripartite Workgroup set the target of helping at least 2,000 HAs, HCAs and PSAs earning $1,700 and less to enjoy wage increases of between 10 and 20 per cent between 2012 and end 2014.
From 2012 to end 2014, the Workgroup will have helped about 5,000 of them enjoy wage increases of about 15 per cent.
To this, Mr Tay said, “Although we have reached the target, I urge all healthcare management and staff alike to actively seek opportunities to do more, and to spread the good initiatives across all healthcare clusters so that all can benefit from the good foundation work that has been carried out over the last two years.”
Next Steps
Mr Tay added that the Tripartite Workgroup will be looking at the Intermediate and Long Term Care (ILTC) healthcare institutions to explore productivity improvements to advance the sector as a whole.
These updates were made by NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Patrick Tay, who is the Supervising Lead, NTUC Healthcare Cluster, at the National Day Observance Ceremony this morning. About 300 mainly staff from NUHS, representatives from the other Public Healthcare Clusters and union leaders from the Cluster’s unions were present.
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