Good afternoon
Mr Liak Teng Lit, Group CEO, Alexandra Health,
Mrs Chew Kwee Tiang, CEO, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital,
Ms Diana Chia, President, NTUC, General Secretary, HSEU,
Ms K Thanaletchimi, President, HSEU,
Members of the NTUC Healthcare Cluster,
Senior management partners, HSEU and Alexandra Health friends.
Happy National Day!
I am very happy to be here with you today. I remember clearly that one year ago, we were at this exact place, launching the Healthcare Cluster Tripartite Workgroup. At that time, the Healthcare Cluster unions under NTUC, MOH and the restructured healthcare institutions were brought together by the common goal of enhancing the employability and salaries of lower-wage healthcare support staff by improving productivity. Using the Progressive Wage Model as a guide, we set the lofty target of helping 2,000 lower-wage healthcare workers earning $1,700 and less to increase their salaries by 10%-20% by 2014. The Workgroup decided to focus on 3 main groups of Healthcare support staff which forms the majority, namely, the Health Attendants (HA), Healthcare Assistants (HCA) and the Patient Service Associates (PSA).
Healthcare Cluster Tripartite Workgroup Target
This year has been a busy one for the Healthcare Cluster Tripartite Workgroup. We focused our efforts on providing 3 Ups for the lower-wage workers – Up-Skill, Up Career Ladder and Up Productivity and most importantly, wages. I was glad to see this in action when I visited the NHG and SingHealth Polyclinics with HSEU’s leaders during the haze period in the middle of the year.
Up Skill (NHGP & SHP)
In NHG Polyclinics, an Electronic Medical Records system was introduced to capture all patients' records electronically instead of keeping physical case files. With this digitization, existing record keepers were re-skilled into Digital Archival Assistants. Separately, health attendants were up-skilled to take clinical measurements of patients like height, weight and blood pressure, which were previously done by doctors and nurses. The wages of these staff were adjusted appropriately in phases to reflect their new expanded roles. This is a good way to Up Skill staff and to up their wages accordingly.
In SingHealth Polyclinics, a Service Ambassador initiative has been launched to provide a better experience for patients. Donning a new badge, nine existing Patient Care Associates have been trained to perform the role of Service Ambassadors across the SingHealth Polyclinics. This new role Ups the Skills and employability of staff, providing them with more opportunities to be deployed in various areas. With better service for patients and a better job for the workers, this is a great win-win initiative.
Up Skill & Up Career Progression (TTSH)
In recognition of the good work done by their Patient Service Associates, Tan Tock Seng Hospital recently celebrated their 1st PSA Day where they launched their re-designed PSA Career Framework and introduced a competency-based training roadmap. With this, good-performing PSAs can break through the current ceiling and look forward to being promoted into Executive level positions. I applaud this move of enabling PSAs to Up-Skill and Up their Career Ladders and urge more to adopt this.
Up Productivity (JHS, KTPH, NHC, NUH)
During my Sunday coffee, I was heartened to read about Jurong Health’s new One Queue One Bill system for the upcoming Ng Teng Fong Hospital in which the patient receives one queue number which he will use throughout his journey during that hospital visit. This is expected to shorten waiting time by 30-40% for patients. Proper patient management not only saves time for patients but also for staff who are now freed up to do other work. What a good way to Up Productivity!
Similarly, to raise productivity, our host today, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital implemented a customised Electronic Meal Ordering System (EMOS) in May 2013 which has led to a better patient experience with visual food choices. This used to be a manual process in which staff would print and collect meal slips, all while double checking the accuracy of the slips to avoid serving the wrong diet to patients.As you can imagine, this initiative has greatly improved the productivity of nurses and the Food Services team, saving the hospital seven man hours daily.
Technology is a great enabler. National Heart Centre developed an in-house web based CardioVascular Information System (CVIS) which is a comprehensive database of patient records and test reports. This allows doctors and staff to access patients’ information holistically and instantaneously which increases quality of care and improves patient safety. It is estimated that cost savings from CVIS are in excess of $45,000 annually.
In National University Hospital, a redesigned inventory management system in the Emergency Medical Department has resulted in a drop from 8% error rate to 0%. I personally think this is an excellent initiative as it means more efficient staff and a safer system for patients.
On Track to reaching Target
After sharing all the Up stories, I am sure the burning question on everyone’s mind is whether we are on track to achieving our targets set. I am glad to share that since the launch of the Healthcare Cluster Tripartite Workgroup, we have helped 2,500 Health Attendants (HA), Healthcare Assistants (HCA) and the Patient Service Associates (PSA) to increase their salaries by about 10%. Although we are on track to reaching our target, I will like to urge all healthcare management and staff alike to actively seek opportunities to do more and to spread good initiatives across all healthcare clusters so that all can benefit. I am also looking at the Intermediate and Long Term Care healthcare institutions to explore productivity improvements to advance the sector as a whole.
In closing, I will like to thank each and every one of you here. Without you, these improvements will not be possible. Without our committed healthcare staff, Singapore will not be where she is today. You play a critical role in nation-building and make invaluable contributions to our country by safe-guarding the health and well-being of our fellow Singaporeans.
For that, thank you and Happy National Day!
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