What will it take to attract and retain good nurses in Singapore? | Heart of the Matter podcast
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ส.ค. 2023
- The attrition rate for nurses has stabilised post-COVID but with a fast greying population, the hunt for a solid pipeline of nursing talent continues. Aside from better salaries, can concerns over high home rentals and allowing foreign nurses to bring their families here be addressed?
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health Mdm Rahayu Mahzam, group chief nurse of the National Healthcare Group Yong Keng Kwang and CEO of recruitment agency People360 Services Jordache Keith share their thoughts with Steven Chia.
0:19 Intro
1:56 Why Singapore needs more nurses
3:02 How bad is the nursing shortage in Singapore
4:34 The need for foreign nurses to augment the local supply
7:12 Global competition for nurses
9:34 Is Singapore a desirable place for foreign nurses
10:12 Do Singaporeans need to show more respect for nurses?
13:26 Are nurses in Singapore doing more than expected?
15:43 What training in UK taught him about patient care
19:00 What does Singapore need to do to retain nurses
25:28 Is the cost of living too expensive for nurses?
28:12 Looking at new sources of nurses
32:00 Outro
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As a doctor I can say that good nurses are as important to patient outcomes as skilled doctors , cherish them because they truly are the backbone of the healthcare system.
Should invite local and foreign nurses to this interview to share their opinions.
To attract and retain nurses, it is essential to offer them fair compensation and benefits. The phased increases of 5% to 14% in nurse’s base salaries over 2021 and 2022 announced by the government is a step in the right direction.
However, more needs to be done to ensure that nurses are adequately compensated.
11:59 the problem lies in the job scope: ward nurses should not be tasked with cleaning up after patients, bringing patients to the toilet, bringing water, push wheelchair, changing pillow case. These housekeeping and hygiene roles should be done by ward assistants, so that Ward Nurses can focus on the proper professional aspects of nursing (drawing blood, doing dressings, documentation, advise on medication, comfort patients, monitoring their vitals). The idea to use robots, AI is good.
Agree, for that purpose you need what is called technicians
Then you will have a shortage of ward assistants - who would want to do those jobs?
As a local student nurse from mid career switch, I seen more foreign nurses than local nurses in wards. The reason is no one wants to be nurses here as a local because the pay is low and it is very tiring to work in shifts duty and as a local coming from a financial industry, there are truly days where i miss my office days because as nurses we have to stand almost the whole day during our shifts….I get patients and families that are sometimes abusive towards nurses and honestly it takes more than passion to stay on as nurse… and more should be done to entice local nurses rather than attracting so many foreign nurses…
public service always overworked their staff cos more staff needs more taxes . singapore needs to be more rich to have a chance to have more public service
In The Other News
MOM COLLECTS Up to $1,200/mth per pax in FOREIGN LEVIES.
Est in EXCESS of 10 BILLION Annually
Else how to Pay MOST EXPENSIVE PM On The Planet n $660k/annum to Mayors for Dunno Doing what ?
@@vincecarlo other countries PM have millions even though they are paid peanuts
let's put it this way. if you can't even attract foreign nurses who are willing to take the sht (sometimes literally) that locals are not willing to put up with and at a lower salary that local are willing to accept, how are you going to attract and retain locals.
None of them mentioned about retaining local nurses. There are many very competent nurses who quit because they become mothers and their job demands such as shift work makes it difficult for them to continue working.
There are many other aspects that can be done to increase manpower and productivity….. not just foreign manpower and increasing incentives.
I know a few nurses. Their welfare is really bad and they have to work very long hours. Also their boss is Malaysian Chinese and only promotes Chinese. Those non Chinese are hardly promoted. So there’s discrimination and prejudice. Maybe you can do a story about that?
Thats everywhere not just in medical industry... I know one company one HR keep sacking other nationalities for trivial issues and select only Malaysian Chinese ! But they may also seen a reverse thing in their growing up years or something to behave this way !!
Skill is rewarded in our public hospitals but some nurses find it hard to rise in the ranks because of their EP status and also because its just easier to promote those with PR status, once they are PR its truly about skill.
Why are SG Hospitals keep promoting Malaysian (Chinese/Indians)/Filipinos to supervisory levels/HR, isn't there any good SG nurses left ? This is common problem SG staff faced - whether their supervisors / HR is from Malaysia, Philippines or Indian, they tend to favour their country men/women.
No wonder SGpaoreans are angry towards their politicians who does not seems to care their own country men.SG hospitals or other government linked organisation should only reserved supervisory/management or HR for SGaporean only. Otherwise it creates a vicious cycle that put SGaporean off to join organisations like hospitals where they are surrounded and talk down by foreigners in their own country.
Lack of staff etc is a convenient excuse for these politicians and Ministry pple. Bad enough we nearly have a Malaysian Elected President. Clearly Singapore Politicians are not loyal and balls in defending their own people.
Can someone do something about this? There is discrimination in singapore hospitals and many nurses are leaving because of this. @@yut576
1. Be fair to all staff meaning all staff nurses should be getting whatever locals are getting
2. Encourage nurses to bring their family
3. Provide good housing due to high rise of hdb rental housing, more nurses are leaving soon they cannot cope with the expenses
4. no social life… work home work home
5. have you asked foreign nurses why? my housemates worked 10 years as EN then only last year was promoted as SN recently they passed NCLEx and leaving soon
reasons: unfair treatment for promotion
unfair salary
no bonuses despite of long years of service😢
Attract is fine, retention is extremely tough for nurses who are smart enough to pass the US CGFNS test. I have sisters who are nurses in the USA, and they sure earn a lot (more than general practice doctors in Southeast Asia), work less hours like one sister took 2 nursing jobs just to fill her time. It's the American dream for sure - cars, big houses, family, us green cards, finally citizenship - a life. There are certifications to take too if they want even higher qualifications. One sister rose to being the hospital director, but gave it up later as she didn't want to be in charge of firing folks. Insurance is great, one hospital covered all my sister's bills and included parents. One parent was hospitalized for usd 11k a day for 3 months at Scripps hospital where she worked, all free.
true, some went to new zealand
You know singapore has a problem when on a topic about retaining nurses there are no nurses involved in the conversation.
it's simple, a lot more manpower is sorely needed. one of my parents was warded for a few weeks in SGH and I can see how shorthanded the nursing staff are. They are always running around and sometimes it can take a LONG time (20-30mins) to have a nurse attend to my parent's needs.
more manpower = reduced stress for current nurses = better retention
it''s not rocket science.
But it’s great that these are discussed, also I suggest there is an actual nurse who describes directly his/her sentiment/concerns about these topic. It’s good the discussion is within nurses. next maybe engineers, laborers etc in next discussion
I'm a true blue singaporean ICU nurse for the last decade. Working in a local govt hospital is like working in a foreign overseas hospital. Most of my colleagues are foreigners. So why not just go overseas for better pay?, better work life balance?, better work culture?. Australia is just a 6 hours flight away. very little incentive to stay in SG.
By For those who are curious as to what is the pay of nurses, online statistics reveal that the average salary for a nursing assistant in Singapore is around $1,700 to $1,900 per month.
1. “Nursing Assistant (July, 2022) - Salaries - Glassdoor” The national average salary for a Nursing Assistant is $1,650 in Singapore.
In The Other News
MOM COLLECTS Up to $1,200/mth per pax in FOREIGN LEVIES.
Est in EXCESS of 10 BILLION Annually
IMO, health care heroes are as important for national security. They are saving lives on daily basis and during pandemic, they risk their lives for the nation. They deserve better salary schemes and more SG should be employed.
In The Other News
MOM COLLECTS Up to $1,200/mth per pax in FOREIGN LEVIES.
Est in EXCESS of 10 BILLION Annually
@@vincecarlo The collections from MOM goes into funding of public projects, welfare and supplements to the average population. If not the taxes will be higher duh
@@wf645
Just LOOK at The " HIDDEN " Multi Level Taxations
ONLY In SG where a Single Pdt can be Taxed 8 TIMES in 8 Different WAYS.
4G is ADDICTED TO💰💰💰
This Multi Level Taxation on Vehicles in SG that makes it THE MOST EXPENSIVE Country for Car Ownership.
Vehicles are Slapped with 8 Different Taxations on A Single Product
- Import Tax
- ARF
- COE
- Registration
- Road Tax
- ERP
- Petrol Tax
- GST
It is A Well Devised System to Squeeze the Citizens in Multi Faceted Taxation System.
61% Voted to Be SCREWED
Do not expect too much as long as they are foreign workers, their mentality is to make good money when they work overseas. So they are just working for money and like any other profession or job, its your own interest that counts in the work so it varies. It’s not like everyone of them are unsung heroes as patient care is definitely very extremely stressful, demanding and even unreasonable sometimes.
Why don’t conduct an industry wide survey to collect the views from nurses themselves?
Pay nurses like paying Ministers salary.... Sure can retain them.
there is no problem paying nurse millions. the problem is can the patients afford to pay for the nurses
They got free uniform and medical right so isnt that good enough
Peasants gets PEANUTS 🥜🥜
Else how to Pay MOST EXPENSIVE PM On The Planet n $660k/annum to Mayors for Dunno Doing what ?
*Good luck to all the healthcare system and personels*
2. “Nursing Aide / Nursing Assistant Working Hours: 2 shifts (6am - 2pm / 1.30pm - 9.30pm) Working days: 6 days (rotating off day) Location: YishunSalary Range: $1,750 - $2,600″
Bring nurses in from Indonesia and Malaysia.
China nurses also good
We need the government to stop quotas that hurt truly small businesses from employing the right people. If someone is willing to do the work, we should have the right to employ them. When locals and PRs are not forthcoming to do these jobs, why must we insist on employing them?
Why not send out surveys to nurses who had left the hospital and find out the real reasons for their leaving? That way, you can get honest answers to the issues and address them accordingly and positively to encourage existing ones to stay on the job.
Be specific, the really tough jobs are in the A&E and the hospital ward….Very stressful, lots of documentation, lack of sleep working shift hours, issuing medicine, monitoring vitals, cleaning after patients, every kind of errand, etc. Ward nurses welfare need to improve. Nurses working in office hour specialist clinics hv an easier job, less demanding, less stress.
We hv failed miserably, year after year, to retain WARD and A&E nurses, this must be solved. seriously, high turnover leading to losing experienced nurses is bad for patients.
After deducting employee CPF contributions of around 20%, the typical starting take-home pay of an assistant nurse may be less than $1,360.
Drive bus better
4. Assistant Nurse Salary - Assistant Nurse Salary. The average assistant nurse gross salary is S$1,717 per month or S$13.86 per hour (S$24,246 per annum).”
Real nurse or maids ?:
For people arguing that money is the main problem. It isn’t. Young nurses these days are not willing to do the same jobs as more senior nurses. You can offer them the sky, but the terms and conditions that they want now has changed tremendously. Gone is any good-will when it comes to working beyond what is expected. Hours are set; any minute beyond is calculated. Not working weekends, only weekdays. We shouldn’t rely on the locals to do any support staff work. They want to be bankers, managers, influencers.
Nurse here.
Increasing the salary of nurses will help but with an increase in salary, the demands of better service and expectations increases from the public. So it is good overall but comes with expectations.
Manpower will always be an issue no matter what. It is the jobscope of nurses keeps expanding and the adding of extra task. We nurses spent quite a lot of time in paper and computer work than patient care. If you dont finish you documentation or task, you finish it and go back home late. It can be very late and worse yet, you can be morning shift the next day.
Abusive and over privilege patients and family members can be a big issue. Respect nurses and we will respect you back. And please pour the cup of water for yourself or for your loved ones admitted if you are able to.
This is for the Nurses.
Treat newly joined nurses well and teach them by good example. Just because they are new doesnt mean they must be chewed up and overwork. Dont use the excuse of 'They need to experience this as we all experience it' or 'This is how I was trained so I should belt out this training.' Give good and stern guidance.
A lot more that I want to say but it is quite exhaustive.
Thank you for sharing your views. We respect you for tahaning and staying put despite the challenges. Hope the authorities will wake up and improve ward nurses work conditions, hope the job scope get reviewed n things get better. God bless you.🙏🏻💝
Retention bonus for new joiners. How about existing nurses?
Unfortunately the United Kingdom National Health care system is broken at the moment resulting in health care workers going on regular strikes, this is mostly due to under staffing, resulting in staff having little choice but to work overtime highly regularly.
3. Average Nurse Assistant Salary in Singapore - Salary 29 Dec 2020 - The average annual salary for a Nurse Assistant in Singapore is S$17592.”
Assistant nurse is not nurse. Same like maid
Free nurse course for the locals
Serve NS as nurse better
Respect and better law to protect employees in service industry from abuse.
*Wheres OYK ?*
How much does a registered nurse earn in Sg?
Singapore Nurse is the best in Asia and in demand internationally. First authority must tespect them. Provide higer salary that other country will not snatch them away. Finally with incentive.
1 in 3 healthcare workers experience abuse in Singapore, just last week i got kicked in the chest by my patient, and my colleague got scolded vulgarities by a patient family member because they took longer than 5 mins to change a diaper.
Its beyond pay and remuneration. We need stricter laws, and better enforcement of these laws, to protect our nurses. Creating a safe work environment which should be fundamental in any work establishment. Singaporeans are pampered beyond hope and racists to boot. Assuming because of their citizenship they can abuse our nurses with no remorse or shame. As a country I would say we failed. As a Singaporean im embarrassed. At some point, i feel its mandatory that we have police and security on standby in every ward to ensure our healthcare worker's safety.
Singapore is a country that have signs everywhere asking her citizens and public not to abuse and treat bus drivers and health staffs in disrespectful manners. This speak alot for the quality of the people living in Singapore. Where else do you see such signs and reminders in life that being respectful to others is human decency to begin with.
How to retain the nurses if the patients or the doctors are horrible to deal with all day long. Lol
To be fair, disrespect happens in every country. We should Respect and be kind to others because it reflects our upbringing.
The problem is we engaged too many foreign nurses. These FNs have no feeling for Singapore, after gaining better knowledge and skill, it is natural for them to move to other better pay countries. To resolve this we must improve the status and treatment for local nurses to attract more locals to join this professional. Have degree course for nursing.
Better salary n benefits !!!! Treat as adults not children from height management …. Respect as professionals.!
Disappointingly, so many million dollar health ministers still cannot solve the problems of shortage of nurses. Urgently we need to retain our local nurses, and think of how to re attract local nurses who hv left to come back to nursing. Relying on foreign nurses is an instant solution, but a long term problem: allowing foreign nurses to bring their families here will cause social problems.
Try to focus on HOW TO RETAIN ward nurses, by making their jobs easier. 8 hrs of non stop, stressful job, made worse with shift hours, disruption to family life, is very challenging. A restructuring of the system is required. Otherwise, training n grooming young nurses will be wasted when most of them get demoralised, and switch to other career.
Better pay and working conditions
Next question
In The Other News
MOM COLLECTS Up to $1,200/mth per pax in FOREIGN LEVIES.
Est in EXCESS of 10 BILLION Annually
@@vincecarlo The collections that MOM collects goes into funding other public projects, welfare and supplements to the average Singaporeans duh ... if not our taxes will be higher !
@@wf645
SG Has MANY MANY Levels of " HIDDEN " TAXATION
ONLY In SG where a Single Pdt can be Taxed 8 TIMES in 8 Different WAYS.
4G is ADDICTED TO💰💰💰
This Multi Level Taxation on Vehicles in SG that makes it THE MOST EXPENSIVE Country for Car Ownership.
Vehicles are Slapped with 8 Different Taxations on A Single Product
- Import Tax
- ARF
- COE
- Registration
- Road Tax
- ERP
- Petrol Tax
- GST
It is A Well Devised System to Squeeze the Citizens in Multi Faceted Taxation System.
61% Voted to Be SCREWED
isn’t the root cause of the problem the low pay of nurses, contrary to what Mr Louis Ng is suggesting?
Nurses are crucial frontline workers who work tirelessly to care for patients, and they should be adequately compensated for their hard work and dedication. When nurses are overworked and underpaid, they may become demotivated and eventually leave the profession. This would only exacerbate the problem of understaffing and lead to a vicious cycle of overworked nurses and a shortage of manpower.
Interview the Health Minister
If we pay nurses at the same as much as we pay doctors, I'll go be a nurse too!
I think we are just not willing to increase the salary to match the demand in the market. That is fundamentally the root of the problem. But of course this comes with higher health care costs too.
In The Other News
MOM COLLECTS Up to $1,200/mth per pax in FOREIGN LEVIES.
Est in EXCESS of 10 BILLION Annually
Perhaps we will pay nurses the same as doctors when nurses go through the same medical training and take on the same amount of bond and student debt as doctors.
Go and learn from other countries which are doing well to attract n retain ward nurses.
@@user-18r9es7tt3
Which Country Collects An INSANE amount in FOREIGN LEVIES like
MOM Up to $1,200/mth per pax ?
Est in EXCESS of 10 BILLION Annually
Else how to Pay MOST EXPENSIVE PM On The Planet n $660k/annum to Mayors for Dunno Doing what ?
@@vincecarlo The collections that MOM collects goes into funding other public projects, welfare and supplements to the average Singaporeans duh ... if not our taxes will be higher !
It don't take a genius to know Inadequate compensation is the root cause of it. Don't tell people about inspiring passion in healthcare workers. Passion don't pay for your meals nor your family expenses.
Thank you, CNA team, for highlighting and discussing the topic on how to attract and retain good nurses.
The solution is to get more Singaporeans to study nursing
Won't help. I got a diploma in engineering but did not work in the engineering line. I work as "Others". 😊
Govt should offer free nursing courses for students completed their Sec 4 education.
It’s a big waste to lose well-trained n experienced local nurses. We feel uncomfortable that MOH keeps hiring foreign nurses. Language, cultural and quality differences makes a big difference in hospital care. If the current team at MOH keeps failing to solve the problem of shortage of nurses, it shows this team really cannot grasp the situations, and unable to come up with effective solutions. Thus it’s time to replace them with a new team.
First kindly put control measures on property agents so even 2.5-3k can also be a good salary ! Currently agents playing so much that rental gone double for whole units and abt 40% for rooms ! It not only affects foriegners but local businesses which many of them being closed down starting from 2 yr back !! Otherwise whoever come here also they wont be able to sustain a living with what was formerly decent pay !
Build Dormitories for Foreign Nurse’s so that do not have to suffer high rentals and better living conditions like not having to share a room with 2-3 persons in a tiny HDB room. Govt can charge them a norminal fee for Security services and maintence fee.
Good nurse as in after vaccines won't die and can continue to work?
Salary for the front end workers too low. Middle is okay. Upper is too much. Typical problem
*Ride on time with the Super Aged Population*
They also want to have their apt not live in hostels etc
Cut CEO pay and give more to the nurses. No money no talk .
MOH and hospital management pays themselves high salaries but pay the nurses very low pay and the management still ask this question, as to what is needed to attract the nurses to join?😆😆😆😆
competitive salary same with western countries allow them to bring their family to migrate and offer more benefits like other western countries does but the most important respect them don’t treat them like a helper .
CNA should look into the terrible state of dental nurses, not just medical nurses.
What about Renal and Rectal nurses ?
More handsome eligible singaporeans
Singaporeans want service and care. They demand it. BUT they don’t want the medical sector to be able to employ people to provide this service and care?? Why does it matter which country a nurse comes from if they are able to help care for patients? Honestly, Singaporeans need to grow up and now be silly about this. They can’t complain about foreign nurses, but then encourage their own children to be doctors, lawyers, bankers etc. We have definitely become a nanny state with an entitled population.
Increase their pay simple
31:00…… be careful, cannot assume nurses from foreign countries are properly trained.
Our medical bills already very high. So you expect what ?
Give PR......😋
aside for better pay, if the bar for PR/Citizenship is hi & vague for themselves & family they will seek countries where this is easier to get. They need to be together with their families & as foreigners school, medical etc cost is hi. this needs improvement. please appreciate these nurses are from poor families trying to alleviate poverty
Is the working enviroment, work so tough and hard, take away your lunch hour for training , no respect, when you get old all the pain and ache, no discount for any treatment when you get old, nursing is about heart, holistic care, aging population, family member must get involve in taking care of tbeir love one
Nothing talks better than $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
MOH should teach citizens not to eat rubbish so they don't get sick, don't need more nurses.
@9:52 tolerant country, but we are not tolerated by them
Singaporean dont want to be nurses. Low pay, standing up whole day, shift work, complaining Singaporeans, see blood, handle human waste..... Take a look at Challenger, they too have so many Malaysian working there full time, only a handful are Singaporean. We Singaporeans dont like to work in a standing up and demanding environment. Need to pay them more and increasethe number of annual leave for the nurses. That might attract more ppl to work as nurses.
Shd employ maids to do the cleaning up instead of nurses.
It’s called technicians not maids , br sure they have to be trained to handle sick human beings
Singapore is just too small
Should empower family member in patient hygiene care like China, instead of making fun of nurses doing the dirty job and full of complaint, taking care of the elite, unload doctor work to nurses, eg pap smear, drawing of blood , setting up of drip, catheterization , we are the high class ah ma in Singapore, the shift duty will make your body clock upside down , is not about money, is the working environment
Just pay them more money.
Treats patients like genuine pigs, nurses are too stressful
Money lor. Easy
Ask yourself, do u want your son/daughter to become a nurse if they are required to clean up after patients, bring them to use the toilet, to bathe, change pillow cases n bedsheets, fetch water, just like domestic helpers.
Correct. They see them as highly paid maids.
Political department will remove good nurses. No point staying for the hospital and get bullied by these hyenas. Group chief nurse should know very well🤫
Spoken to foreign nurses on the ground , say that our environment is toxic, good riddance
Assistant nurse is not a nurse. Zero knowledge medical training.
Train academically qualified prisoners as nurses. To attract male candidates giving nursing a more gender neutral term.
I don’t think society is ready for male nurses who are ex prisoners.
Pay them more
Ya the money come from where? Then your hospital bills have to be higher lo but later you all complain healthcare not affordable
In The Other News
MOM COLLECTS Up to $1,200/mth per pax in FOREIGN LEVIES.
Est in EXCESS of 10 BILLION Annually
@@vincecarlo The collections that MOM collects goes into funding other public projects, welfare and supplements to the average Singaporeans duh ... if not our taxes will be higher !
Nurses come to Singapore to work because of higher pay. After their contract is over, they usua0lly look for greener pesture.
One way of keeping these nurses is giving to give them some incentive, example open a special account for them. In this account, we give them , said 200dallars a month, so the account will have 2400 dollars a yesr. If they work for 20 year , the account would have 48 thousand dollars plus interest. This money should only be taken out at age 55 year old.
Some of them have certain sickness, and they want to go back to their country, then we shouldj let them take the money
Dental nurses too
Stop giving them PR then they will stay put, it is that simple. Once they got PR they will jumped ship 😂😂
Talked rubbish, PAP's style rubbish.
Ha ha ha!
In The Other News
MOM COLLECTS Up to $1,200/mth per pax in FOREIGN LEVIES.
Est in EXCESS of 10 BILLION Annually
who is going to hire a singaporean without the levies when foreign workers are a few times cheaper than you
The collections that MOM collects goes into funding other public projects, welfare and supplements to the average Singaporeans duh ... if not our taxes will be higher !
@@wf645 do you really not know how did the levies come about
the levies is not there for the sake of going into public projects. |
it is implemented so that Singaporeans will get hired since FT is no longer considered the cheap options
@@user-ns8bd5se5b Yes, I do know that. Plus the levies goes to the coffers and those I mentioned too.