Singapore Health Quality Service Award winners 2020
A record 4,295 awards honoring healthcare professionals were given at the 10th Singapore Health Quality Service Awards held on 14 January 2020. These winners came from public and private healthcare institutions, as well as organisations from the Intermediate and Long-Term Care (ILTC) sector. Superstar awards were presented to top winners from the Clinician, Nursing, Allied Health, Administration, Ancillary and ILTC categories. In addition, Best Team awards were presented to recognise outstanding efforts that improve patient experience and safety in the Clinical Practice and Service Initiative categories.
Of the awards presented this year, there were 3,243 awards in the Silver category, 778 in the Gold category, 261 in the Star category and 9 Superstar awards presented to the top winners from the various professional groups.
Let’s meet some of our very own Superstar winners!
Clinician Category
For the past two decades, Assoc Prof Guo has been working on making spinal surgery better and safer. An advocate for minimally invasive approaches that use computer navigation and robotic technology, Assoc Prof Guo enjoys sharing his knowledge with other surgeons. While spinal surgery is highly risky, successful surgeries alleviate pain and sometimes allow patients to regain mobility and quality of life. For this reason, Assoc Prof Guo finds his work to be very rewarding.
Despite his heavy clinical load, Dr Soong is passionate about making processes better for patients and staff alike. He has led several initiatives to benefit both his patients and colleagues, like creating a system to reduce waiting times by directing patients to any available Dental Officer within NDCS. It also not unusual for him to coordinate his appointment slots with other clinicians in the Centre for his patients’ convenience, even when he is not rostered to be in the clinic. In addition, Dr Soong often goes the extra mile for his patients, sometimes even personally picking their medicines up from the SGH pharmacy to save them the trip. Outside of NDCS, Dr Soong also volunteers his time and expertise in humanitarian mission trips overseas. |
Nursing Category
With 40 years of nursing experience, SNM Savithri was instrumental in setting up CGH’s first dementia ward in 2015 to provide dedicated care to these patients. She has also led and contributed to various initiatives, such as the successful robotic pet therapy programme, which uses a life-like robotic cat or dog to calm agitated patients, and the Snoezelen Sensory Board, a multisensory stimulation therapy aimed at reducing patients’ behavioural issues. Beyond patient care, Savithri is also a passionate peer supporter for nurses in her ward, and a strong advocate for nursing education. She volunteers at several social welfare organisations in her spare time to give back to the community. Ye Li Zhen Going beyond the call of duty for her patients is not uncommon for NC Li Zhen, who believes that nurses should step into their patients’ shoes in order to better relieve their anxieties – she even once went to a patient’s home after work to walk the patient’s daughter through the steps of administering an injection. She also brings this philosophy into the Basic Care Assistant (BCA) training programme at SGH, which she pioneered in 2016 to train new BCAs with no nursing background. To date, the programme has groomed 14 batches of BCAs. Li Zhen is also the president of the SingHealth Toastmasters’ Club, nurturing nurses who are not proficient in the English language, and giving nurses and healthcare staff a platform to develop greater confidence in their daily work.
Over the course of SEN Jennifer’s career, she has befriended many of her patients. From finding opportunities to connect with them, to being sensitive to their needs, Jennifer strives to provide her patients with the support they need. As a SEN, she plays an active role in nurturing and inspiring junior staff. She enjoys the camaraderie and revels in their successes with them. One instance of this was when her team introduced a holder for waste disposal on the dressing trolley, which helped with the nurses’ daily routine. On her days off, Jennifer volunteers at the Assisi Hospice, accompanying patients in their final hours of life. These encounters are humbling, reminding her to always live in the moment. |
Allied Health Category
Known to colleagues and patients as the “Excuse-Me Lady”, Mariam is always ready to greet anyone with a smile. For her, understanding patients and how she can make a positive difference to them is what brings her the greatest joy. She often goes the extra mile for her patients, from personally wheeling wheel-chair bound patients to clinics, to personally sourcing ambulances to transport them to and from home. Mariam has also started several initiatives to streamline work processes to improve efficiency, such as scanning documents to medical social workers for review before they attend to patients. This has reduced both patients’ waiting time and paper waste. At home, Mariam is caregiver to her stroke-stricken husband, and despite its difficulties, finds inspiration in her patients who stay positive despite their conditions. |
Ancillary Category
Diana believes in spreading love to those in need. Constantly finding new ways to make the patient experience more enjoyable, she often takes time to attend to their needs and ensure they are comfortable. With the roll-out of the “1 Queue 1 Bill” system at NCCS’ Ambulatory Treatment Unit (ATU), Diana noticed that the layout of the queue panel was confusing to patients, and proposed colour-coding the service instead, which proved to be an effective change. While she felt these gestures and improvements might not amount to much, they are her way of showing her passion and sincerity in her job. |
Superstar Winners
Clinician Category Assoc Prof Guo Chang Ming Dr Soong Poh Luon Nursing Category Sinnatamby Savithri Ye Li Zhen Jennifer Tan Mae Yung Allied Health Category Mariam Bte Din Intermediate and Long-Term Care Ancillary Category Diana Chan Suk Ee Intermediate and Long-Term Care Best Team Award - Clinical Practice Improvement Category Revivors Intermediate and Long-Term Care - Patient Experience Improvement Category Bedside Handover Team Intermediate and Long-Term Care Special Mention |
Organised by the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre, the annual awards have recognized and celebrated the exemplary efforts of healthcare professionals in service excellence since 2011.
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