Majority of staff will remain in their job roles and neither would there be changes in monthly salaries of healthcare staff, after the merger of regional clusters, Health Ministry Singapore said.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) plans to reorganise the public healthcare system into three integrated clusters to better meet Singaporeans’ future healthcare needs. The three integrated clusters to be formed will be as follows:
The public healthcare system in Singapore is currently organised into six regional health systems – Alexandra Health System, Eastern Health Alliance, Jurong Health Services, National Healthcare Group, National University Health System and Singapore Health Services.
Also the National University Health System will take over the management of five existing polyclinics. All 18 polyclinics are now managed by either Singapore Health Services or the National Healthcare Group.
Dr Lew Yii Jen, who will be stepping up to be the chief executive of the new National University Polyclinics, said he would ensure “minimum disruption” to workflow as the polyclinics are handed over, and make sure staff have opportunities to raise any concerns, Straits Times reported.
The Ministry did not say on how many public healthcare staff will be reporting to a new employer next year, when the entire transition comes to effect.
Ms Diana Chia, general secretary of the Healthcare Services Employees’ Union, said they would ensure that workers’ terms of employment are not adversely affected by these changes. The Union will hold sessions with its members to address staff concerns or clarify any queries during the change. It will also continue to work with the relevant stakeholders to facilitate the transition of affected healthcare workers.
See: Using Technology to Raise Productivity: Key Focus of MOM’s 2020 Healthcare Manpower Plan
Anticipating the future healthcare needs to grow in volume and complexity due to ageing population, and increased chronic disease burden, Singapore hopes to ramp up healthcare delivery to be more future-ready. The implementation of the Healthcare 2020 Masterplan, to expand capacity, improve quality and enhance affordability of healthcare, is in progress.
Last year, the Ministry of Health further outlined three key shifts in the healthcare system beyond 2020: from Hospital to Community, from Quality to Value and from Healthcare to Health. This reorganisation will place the country in a better position to carry out the necessary changes and shifts within clusters and across the healthcare system more swiftly and decisively.
Each new integrated cluster will have a fuller range of facilities, capabilities, services and networks across different care settings. They will be able to draw from the combined strengths and talents of their two original clusters to deliver more comprehensive and person-centred health promotion disease prevention, curative and rehabilitative care.
MOH will also work towards ensuring cross-cluster information flow and coordinated services so that together, it can serve as one public healthcare system for Singaporeans.
The reorganisation will enable public healthcare institutions to deploy their resources and capabilities more efficiently. They will also be able to offer employees a wider and deeper range of professional development opportunities, and a broader platform for cross-learning that will benefit staff and patients.
This will in turn build a stronger healthcare workforce to serve Singaporeans. The reorganisation is expected to be complete by early 2018.
Also read: MOH Launches Manpower Plan; 30,000 New Healthcare Jobs to be created by 2020
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