Watching Madam Hadjiah Bte T. Moid operate the automated bed trolley at Changi General Hospital’s (CGH) Ward 59 is like a breeze. With deft fingers and rapid explanation, the 54-year-old support clinical assistant demonstrates confidently the trolley’s features, usage and even maintenance tips on one of the newly automated additions acquired under the $200,000 funding received from the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) Advantage! Scheme.
But it was a different scenario for Madam Hadijah and her fellow mature colleagues four months ago, when automation was first introduced to them. “I was scared because if I don’t know how to use this (automated bed trolley), it may just run off by itself, especially when you are entering the lift,” recalled Madam Hadijah.
With subsequent hands-on training and daily usage, Madam Hadijah added: “Most of our elderly patients have to use the Linkbridge from Ward 59 to go to the main CGH building for X-rays daily. With this automated trolley, it is very good in helping us to push patients, once I know how to control the speed. I don’t have to use so much strength now.”
Health Services Employees' Union-CGH Vice-Chairwoman and Senior Nurse Manager Sister Lau Soy Soy who was one of the key drivers to secure the Advantage! Scheme grant for CGH shared that fears faced by Madam Hadijah and other mature workers are not new. She said: “The morale was terrible initially. When we wanted to introduce the motorised equipment in early 2009, they thought the machines were taking over their jobs. They rejected the whole idea, and said they worked very well manually.”
But HSEU-CGH, together with the CGH Management, managed to win over the mature workers eventually. Both parties took time to listen to the mature workers’ feedback, and different types of automated equipment were introduced on trial to optimise their workflow. Eventually, the more necessary equipment such as the automated bed trolleys, electric pill crushers, motorised wheelchairs and human lifters were purchased.
Under the Advantage! Scheme, the workers also attended `Pre-Retirement Counselling – Reemployment: Equipping And Developing Yourself (READY)™’. Offered by the Centre for Seniors (CFS), the programme aims to encourage the mature employees to continue working beyond retirement age, as well as preparing them in adjusting to new workplace practices.
Sister Lau explained that such ‘soft skills training’ would prepare them on the awareness of technology, as well as adopting a different mindset with such changes. “The grant should not just benefit the organisation, but also the workers,” said Sister Lau.
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WDA implemented the ADVANTAGE! Scheme in partnership with the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises(ASME), the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), and aims to help companies to put in place HR systems to facilitate re-employment practices in preparation for re-employment legislation being introduced in 2012, as well as to enhance the employment prospects of older workers. |
