SINGAPORE: Feedback from patients and their family members are not used directly to determine the performance grade nurses receive, Senior Parliamentary Secretary of Health Rahayu Mahzam said on Wednesday (Nov 30).
However negative feedback will still impact performance and appraisal if nurses are found to require improvement in some areas, she added.
Ms Rahayu was replying to a parliamentary question by MP Louis Ng (PAP-Nee Soon), who also asked how nurses are protected against unfair feedback or abuse by patients or visitors.
Nurses are assessed holistically through key areas such as the provision of timely and quality patient care, display of leadership capabilities, as well as professional and personal development, said Ms Rahayu.
“While institutions take feedback from patients and their family members seriously, this is not used to directly determine the performance grade that a nurse receives,” she explained.
“In general, feedback from patients and their family members is considered an integral part of quality and care improvement for our public healthcare institutions.”
Positive feedback would be given to the nurses and care teams to recognise their efforts.
On the other hand, negative feedback will be looked into, in case there are gaps to address in the quality of care, said Ms Rahayu.
As for abuse and harassment, public healthcare institutions take a serious stance against such behaviour, and employees are encouraged to report such incidents to their supervisor or whistle-blowing channels, she added.
“This would be looked into fairly as it is crucial to protect and support staff against abusive patients or family members accompanying patients when necessary,” Ms Rahayu said.
She noted that police reports have been lodged previously and further investigations conducted.
