26 Jan 2011
To give SGH staff due recognition and raise the bar, the SingHealth group launched an award dedicated to the healthcare sector – Singapore Health Quality Service Award. The aim is to aspire to become the national platform of recognition for the entire sector in the next two years.
For the first time, team efforts received a nod from the judges, to be in the running for the Best Clinical Practice Improvement Team or the Best Service Initiative Improvement Team.
1291 received the inaugural awards at ceremony on 26 Jan 2011.
- 78 Star Awards
- 200 Gold Awards
- 1014 Silver Awards
- 2 Superstar Awards
- Best Ancillary Staff
- Best Nursing Staff
- Best Service Initiative Improvement Team
Breaking out of silos
Quick Blood was a team with a difference. By focusing on the patient’s journey, it breaks down barriers between departments and cells, drawing members from nursing, transport, epidemiology and the blood bank.
Over a period of six months, the team identified and resolved the kinks in the patient’s journey that caused delays. For example, drawing two blood samples at once instead of two separate rounds; use of red folders to alert the Blood Bank to priority samples, installation of E-porter at the Blood Bank to directly activate the Transport unit to pick up the blood packs for transfusion.
The measure of its success?
For the patient. More than 90% (up from 49%) of its patients faced a waiting time of 4.5 hours or less for same- day blood transfusion.
For SGH. Savings of almost $20,000 (from Mar to Sept 2010) in utility bills.
For the staff. “Less overtime, now that most patients complete their transfusion earlier!,” chimed Senior Staff Nurse Cheong Li Sack, Haematology Centre.
“The success of this project is a good reflection of what collaboration between staff from different departments can achieve.” – Team leader Tan Chor Kien, Nurse Clinician
Best Ancillary Staff
“Help! I’ve lost my husband!” Not your typical appointment handling call. But Porckodi d/o Lallayah (Kodi), Patient Service Assistant from Call Centre, was unfazed. The partially deaf and forgetful husband had wandered off while the wife was in the toilet. The elderly lady had no clue which clinic he was visiting in SGH, nor what procedure her husband was due for.
Armed with the little information she had, Kodi made multiple calls around the hospital. The couple was eventually reunited at the Department of Endoscopy.
“Over the past 3 years, Kodi has earned a total of 137 compliments or an average of 3 compliments a month. A role model of diligence, she also took up a diploma course while juggling family and work commitments, “ said her supervisor Sandra Koh, Senior Manager, Operations.
Best Nursing Staff
Winner of many SGH service awards since 1995, including the 2009 CEO Service Award and EXSA Star Award in 2009, Nurse Clinician Tan Chor Kien has received countless commendation from patients for making them feel “less hopeless and frightful”.
“During my rounds, patients reported that they were delighted that NC Tan sang to them. I heard her singing for the very first time when we visited one of our dying patient in ICU. When NC Tan started singing, the patient opened her eyes spontaneously to greet us,” recounted her supervisor Senior Nurse Manager Chong Lai Ling in the nomination.
Sister Tan is an active member of the Haematology Support Group previously known as Bone Marrow Transport Support Group. In 2010, she was busy setting up a sub group for Myeloma patients. She is also active in the SGH Campus Nurse Volunteer group and has participated in several Community Outreach Programmes.
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