Speech by President Halimah Yacob at Singapore Health Quality Service Awards 2023

Professor Ivy Ng, Group CEO, SingHealth

Healthcare CEOs and Leaders,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon

It is my pleasure to join you today at the Singapore Health Quality Service Awards (SHQSA) 2023 Ceremony. Now in its 13th year, these awards recognise the exemplary efforts and dedication of healthcare professionals in delivering quality care and patient experience. I am heartened to see more than 1,000 award winners with us here today, coming from a total of 40 healthcare institutions from the public, private and community care sectors, drawn together with a shared belief and purpose of delivering nothing short of the best care and experience to your patients.

Over the last three years, our healthcare teams have worked tirelessly, both at the frontline and behind the scenes, as we rode the peaks and troughs of the pandemic as new variants emerged and brought about different challenges. Healthcare professionals, from clinicians, nurses and allied health professionals, to administrators and ancillary staff, have demonstrated great adaptability and courage as they stepped into new roles and responsibilities and accepted deployments and volunteering opportunities in various capacities.

At the start of the pandemic, we saw people from all job groups donning personal protective equipment and stepping into unfamiliar territory – COVID-19 community care facilities, foreign worker dormitories and Swab Isolation Facilities to lend their efforts in combating the disease. Hospital wards were swiftly converted to accommodate COVID-19 patients, and laboratories worked around the clock to deliver rapid and accurate PCR test results.

The pandemic turned out to be a long-drawn marathon, but our healthcare teams did not give up. They continued adapting to the evolving situation, managed the different waves of infections, and took care of both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients, and kept the population safe. As the pandemic situation stabilises, we will always keep close to our hearts, the steadfastness and dedication that you, our inspiring healthcare professionals, demonstrated during that crucial time. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you for fighting this difficult battle, and for remaining vigilant till this day.

Beyond the pandemic, the healthcare sector continues to tackle other healthcare challenges, including the impact from an ageing population, the increased burden of chronic diseases as well as the threat of emerging diseases that could bring the next ‘Disease X’ pandemic in the future. Every cloud has a silver lining – these challenges also bring new opportunities to change the way we deliver care. Healthcare professionals are looking into ways to work smarter and deliver better care for patients, designing new care models that are more accessible, and engaging the community more closely to engender a healthier Singapore.

Today, we want to recognise your dedication and commitment to your vocation, and share some of your outstanding stories. This year’s SHQSA has 14 winners from the Superstar category, hailing from five professional groups – Clinician, Nursing, Allied Health, Ancillary and Administration. Each of them is a unique story of compassion and innovation, and each has made an impact in his or her respective fields of work. The six Best Team winners comprise healthcare professionals who worked together to improve clinical practices, patient experience, or bring greater joy at work to their co-workers. Many of their projects speak of a caring heart and unwavering passion to go the extra mile for their patients and the community.

Ms Chai Yu Fang, a winner of the Exemplar Professional – Allied Health category of the Superstar Award, is an Occupational Therapist from NTUC Health. She has touched the hearts and lives of many of her patients through her dedication to help them re-integrate into the community seamlessly. When working with under-privileged patients, she takes the initiative to source for affordable rehabilitation and daily care assistive devices, such as donated or used wheelchairs, in her personal time.

This is an inspirational example of going above and beyond, extending not only professional help as an allied health practitioner, but holistic care to the vulnerable. She also puts in extra effort to monitor and motivate her patients to adhere to their therapy routine so that they can resume their daily activities. With her encouragement and assistance, many of her patients have found renewed joy and fulfilment in their lives as they progressively regain their independence.

One of this year’s Best Team Award recipients is “The MasterClefts” team from the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH). At KKH, cleft patients who undergo surgery are advised to be on a soft diet for six to eight weeks after the operation to minimise chewing so that their wound can heal well. To facilitate wound healing, KKH prioritises food that meets texture guidelines over the taste of the food. In the past, this often resulted in bland and less appetising food, and there was little variation in the menu. The KKH team, comprising speech therapists, plastic surgeons, orthodontists, nurses and administrators, found that patients tended to secretly consume food brought by their caregivers instead of the hospital food that was served. On the other hand, caregivers also shared their difficulties in complying with the texture restrictions when preparing or buying food for patients at home.

To improve the experience for these patients, the KKH team worked with dietitians and catering staff to revamp the menus to include more options for nutritional balance and variety, while minimising food-related wound complications. Since October 2020, KKH has been providing post-surgery cleft patients with a wider variety of tasty yet suitable food options, such as pasta and curry fish. To better support caregivers caring for cleft patients at home, the team also rolled out a suite of online resources, which included wound care advice, meal preparation guidelines and recipes, as well as informative tips to choose and prepare nutritionally-balanced meals. The team truly sought to understand and address the needs of patients and their caregivers, and their hard work has helped improve the recovery experience of their cleft patients. Caregivers face an immense emotional and physical load while caring for their loved ones. Practical, targeted resources provided by the KKH team go a long way in alleviating this burden.

SHQSA also celebrates quality service within the healthcare community. Mr Jeremy Lim, Nurse Clinician at Sengkang Community Hospital, is a winner of the Exemplar Leader category of the Superstar Award this year. Jeremy exemplifies the quality of servant leadership. He prioritises the greater good of the team and pays close attention to their needs to reach common goals together. In his team of 40, he fosters a strong culture of open communication and mutual learning. He empowers his team members to share ideas for improvement, and leverage one another’s strengths to care for patients on their recovery journey.

He also emphasises strong teamwork and encourages his team members to work together so that no one’s workload is too heavy. His leadership and care for the team goes beyond work; when a number of foreign colleagues were feeling homesick during the pandemic, Jeremy organised gatherings and prepared food to make them feel at home. When the home country of two of his team members was struck by natural disasters, Jeremy coordinated a donation drive to support and assure them that they were not alone. The spirit of solidarity that binds his team is, without a doubt, the fruit of his empathy and genuine support for his colleagues.

In closing, I would like to congratulate all recipients of the Singapore Health Quality Service Awards 2023. Your resilience and steadfast spirit have strengthened our healthcare institutions, enhanced care delivery and improved treatment outcomes. More importantly, it has made a world of a difference to the patients and caregivers whose lives you have touched. And to each and every healthcare professional, thank you for always going the extra mile to deliver quality care, and to create a positive experience for all patients and their caregivers.

I wish you an enjoyable afternoon ahead. Thank you.