The main element issue is preservation, Ms Rahayu stated.
Setting out the strategy MOH has put in place to achieve this, she said the particular ministry reviews nurses’ scope of work to enable them to spend more time on direct patient treatment and ensures remuneration is competitive in your area and internationally.
In terms of scope of work, community healthcare institutions reduce the administrative workload simply by, for instance, introducing improvements in automation, technologies, robotics and AI-enabled technology.
The particular ministry has also efficient care processes plus deployed dedicated management and support care staff to assist nurses, she added.
WELFARE OF NURSES
Mr Ng also asked if the National Wellness Committee for Junior Doctors could broaden the scope of work to include the working hours and problems of nurses.
In response, Ms Rahayu said that problems related to junior physicians need to be tackled in different ways because of their regular rotations across the public health care system, compared to additional employees who are hired directly by public healthcare clusters.
She observed that while the ministry does not impose the very least number of rest hrs, duty rosters regarding nurses are planned in advance to ensure employees have “adequate” rest between shifts.
“Even as we prioritise the well-being in our nurses, we appreciate the reality of their work, which is to deliver timely and quality patient care, ” she said.
Mr Ng asked for a definition of sufficient rest. He said that some nurses completed their shift with 9pm or 10pm and are back at your workplace at 7am the next day, which, he mentioned, results in insufficient relaxation.
In response, Ms Rahayu said that there are many different arrangements within the community healthcare institutions about how they manage their employees’ rest hrs. In some clusters, sleep is ensured through rotating shifts, the girl said.
However , she noted that this realities on the ground may be “challenging” and that healthcare professionals may have to go beyond their particular “call of duty”.
MOH is certainly working to ensure you will find sufficient nurses on a lawn, Ms Rahayu mentioned, noting that the quantity of nurses over the past couple of years has remained steady.
Local nursing intakes have increased from about one, 500 in 2014 to about 2, 100 in 2021, she noted.
Given the expanding demands on health care manpower as the human population ages, Ms Rahayu urged families plus caregivers to be a partner in the care journey of their loved ones to alleviate workers’ workload.
“We understand the significance of recognising nurses’ contributions and the ministry has worked on looking at their salaries plus allowances, ” the lady said.
During the last five years, the annual salaries of local nurses in public areas healthcare institutions – which comprise base salary, allowances plus bonuses – have increased, she noted.
She additional that with the reducing of COVID-19, public healthcare institutions happen to be allowing nurses to take time off function to rest plus recover, including enabling foreign nurses to come back home.
Data shows that leave is being approved and permitted, Ms Rahayu said.
“MOH remains committed to provide support to the public health care clusters in the efforts to ensure that there is certainly sufficient manpower on the ground, and look after the well-being of our healthcare professionals as they continue to encounter pressures from COVID- 19 surge dunes and an ageing population, ” the lady said.