NOTICE PAPER NO. 1673
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR WRITTEN ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 6 FEBRUARY 2023
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang
MP for Nee Soon GRC
Question No. 2615
To ask the Minister for Health in respect of the work of the cross-cluster Staff Well-being Committee relating to nurses (a) how is the Ministry monitoring the effectiveness of initiatives introduced, such as the system changes implemented by Chief Wellness Officers, counselling services, peer-support networks and staff support assistance plans; (b) what feedback has been provided to the Ministry on policy changes to improve the well-being of nurses; and (c) what steps has the Ministry taken on the policy feedback provided.
Answer
As shared with Mr Ng during the 2nd August 2022 Parliament sitting, the cross-cluster Staff Well-being Committee was formed in 2019 for the public healthcare clusters to share best practices with one another and provide feedback to the Ministry of Health (MOH) on enhancements to improve staff well-being across all categories of staff.
The committee has since completed its work and provided its recommendations to MOH. Arising from one of its recommendations, MOH announced the formation of a Tripartite Workgroup to address the issue of abuse and harassment of healthcare workers in March 2022. The Workgroup is currently finalizing its recommendations which will be released soon.
Clusters have also enhanced support measures for their staff. Besides the appointment of Chief Wellness Officers to improve staff well-being, the clusters have also put in place counselling services, peer-support networks and staff support assistance plans.
We will continue to work closely with MOH Holdings and the public healthcare clusters to improve staff well-being.