Update on Staff Well-Being Committee's Work Relating to Nurses

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked 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.

As shared with Mr Louis Ng during the 2 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 finalising 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.