Pay increase of 3-14% for nurses and healthcare workers in public sector

NURSES and other healthcare workers in the public healthcare sector can look forward to a 3-14 per cent salary increase from July, in a bid to maintain salary competitiveness of healthcare staff against the overall market, Senior Minister of State for Health Koh Poh Koon said.

"We are cognisant that salaries play a key role in the attraction and retention of staff. Our healthcare workforce is the lifeblood of our healthcare system, and the work they do is critical in protecting the health and safety of our society," Dr Koh said during the Ministry of Health's (MOH) budget debate in Parliament on Friday.

For nurses, the increase is 5-14 per cent in their monthly base salaries to be phased over two years.

Allied health professionals, pharmacists and administrative and ancillary staff, including support care staff, will get an increase of 3-7 per cent in their monthly base salaries this year.

"We will also increase funding support to publicly-funded community care organisations to ensure that salaries of their staff also remain competitive. The changes to both sectors will be implemented from July this year," Dr Koh said.

In response to media queries on the salary of new healthcare workers, an MOH spokesperson said the starting salary of diploma-trained nurses is S$2,300 and that of Nitec-trained nurses is S$1,740, excluding employer CPF, bonuses and other variable components.

Salaries of doctors and dentists in public healthcare institutions were recently updated in 2019.

At the same time, the ministry is looking to attract more talent to healthcare to build a strong local core, and it is doing so by increasing the intake of doctors, dentists, pharmacists, therapists and nurses.

It is also building pathways for progression and redesigning jobs for staff in support and operations support roles, while continuing to expand mid-career conversion pipelines.

Those who have just graduated and have joined the institutions before July 2021 will benefit from the announced salary increases together with the rest of the workforce, the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, the government is introducing a set of changes to the subsidy frameworks for inpatient care at acute hospitals, specialist outpatient clinics and community hospitals, Dr Koh said.

First, MOH is aligning means-testing for inpatient admissions to acute hospitals from individual income to per capital household income (PCHI).

Subsidies for B2 and C wards will also be unified into a common framework, maintaining the same minimum and maximum range from 50-80 per cent. Currently, B2 wards are subsidised at 50-65 per cent; and C wards, 65-80 per cent.

Secondly, two new subsidy tiers will be introduced for Specialist Outpatient Clinics (SOC) for patients with higher PCHI to bring greater progressivity and allow resources to be better directed, Dr Koh said.

This will be 40 per cent for patients with PCHI above S$3,300 and 30 per cent for patients with PCHI above S$6,500.

Currently, high-income patients and median-income patients receive the same 50 per cent subsidy support despite having different financial means.

With better targeted subsidies at SOCs, the ministry will now allow private patients in the inpatient setting to opt for either subsidised or private SOC for their post-discharge follow-up.

Thirdly, subsidies at community hospitals (CH) will be enhanced to support patients in utilising appropriate care and facilitate the smooth flow of patients from acute hospitals to community hospitals, Dr Koh said.

The maximum subsidy of CHs will be raised to 80 per cent, aligned with that of acute inpatient care, with the minimum subsidy further increased from 20 to 30 per cent.

Beyond healthcare financing, Dr Koh said the ministry is looking to tap on technology to deliver care more effectively while optimising its limited manpower resource.

In this regard, the National Central Fill Pharmacy, when ready, will consolidate medications across multiple providers in a central location, enabling the delivery of medications directly to patients' homes, secured post boxes or other convenient locations.

This will improve the access to pharmacy services, including for seniors with mobility needs, and support new care models such as telemedicine, he said.

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