Recourse for Healthcare Workers under Tripartite Framework when Institutions Fail to Follow Up on Reports for Non-police Cases

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong asked the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health (a) what alternative recourse exists for healthcare workers under the Tripartite Framework for the Prevention of Abuse and Harassment in Healthcare when institutions fail to follow up on incident reports for non-police cases; and (b) whether the Ministry can consider centrally tracking the resolution and post-incident management outcomes of all reported cases to ensure full institutional accountability.

The Ministry of Health took the lead in developing the policy to protect healthcare workers against abuse and harassment, worked with Tripartite partners to develop the guidelines and support healthcare institutions in executing the policy.

However, the Ministry does not centrally track the resolution and post-incident management outcomes of all abuse and harassment cases and does not plan to do so. It will not be helpful to create the impression that this is an exercise of setting, tracking and chasing numbers and KPIs. Healthcare institutions need to own and internalise the policy, carry them out, protect healthcare workers while being fair to patients and know that the Ministry stands behind them.

We thank the Member for his concern for the welfare of healthcare workers and welcome him to let us know if there is any specific case that he wishes to bring to our attention.