Louis Ng asks MOH to review nurse-to-patient ratio, says there’s a need to ‘really’ look into nurses’ workload

Mr Louis Ng (Nee Soon GRC) underlined the need to “really look into the workload of our nurses” in Parliament on Monday (Sept 12), saying that “a lot of nurses” have shared with him that they only have four or five hours of rest between shifts.

“I fear not only for the nurses, but also for the level of care that patients receive from someone that is overworked. 

I hope MOH (Ministry of Health) can review the rostering systems of hospitals and also the nurse-to-patient ratio,” he added.

Mr Ng cited the MOH saying last month that the ratio of nurses to patients is one to four or five, which had been shared in Parliament. 

He cautioned, however, that “seems to be far from the reality on the ground,” and that many nurses have told him that they are caring for “way more” patients. 

Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health Rahayu Mahzam said she appreciates the concern Mr Ng has expressed for nurses and other healthcare workers.

However, she underlined that “it is a pandemic situation that we’re dealing with.”

“We have accepted that there are some difficulties and have explained in previous sittings” the answers to some of the questions Mr Ng, who underlined the need to ensure guidelines on adequate rest for nurses last month in Parliament, has raised.

A Staff Wellbeing Committee has been set up, she added, as well as a task force relating to the abuse of healthcare workers. A workgroup has also been set up to look into the issues of junior doctors.

Ms Rahayu called this a “wholistic” effort.

As for healthcare workers’ workloads, she said this is something that needs to be left to hospitals and public healthcare institutions to manage. 

“It’s an operational setting, and setting too much rules does not help, and will be counterproductive,” she added.

“The reality is that even if we set the rules,” healthcare professionals who are ending their shift, they see their patient is ill, they still stay to take care of them, Ms Rahayu said. “I think this is the reality that we have to accept about the nature of the work in the healthcare sector.”

Nevertheless, she added, the government is taking a multi-pronged approach to see how it can help in the situation, including bringing in foreign nurses. /TISG

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