New guide to curb abuse and harassment of community care workers to be circulated in June
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung speaking at the Community Care Workplan Seminar on May 28. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
New guide to curb abuse and harassment of community care workers to be circulated in June
SINGAPORE - A new guide to protect community care workers from abuse and harassment will be circulated to all community care organisations, which include nursing homes and hospices, in June 2025.
Announcing the development of the guide at the Community Care Workplan Seminar on May 28, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said all community care organisations are encouraged to implement the recommendations.
The guide is adapted from the standardised framework launched in December 2023 to curb abuse of healthcare workers in public healthcare institutions such as hospitals and polyclinics.
The framework includes a common definition of abuse and harassment, standardised protocols for response and measures that can be taken against abusers.
The public healthcare clusters have since updated their protocols across their hospitals and institutions to protect their healthcare workers against abuse and harassment, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a statement on May 28.
The ministry said the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) and MOH partnered community care sector leaders over the past year to contextualise the guide for various care settings, such as nursing homes, active ageing centres, hospices, and home care services.
The guide has been adapted to address challenges faced by community care workers, including safety protocols for home-based care settings where staff work in clients' residences. Special consideration has also been given to managing situations involving clients with dementia or lower mental capacity, who form a significant proportion of users of community care services.
The initial framework for healthcare institutions came after the Tripartite Workgroup for the Prevention of Abuse and Harassment of Healthcare Workers set up in April 2022 released its findings from a survey of more than 3,000 healthcare workers and 1,500 members of the public in the second half of 2022.
The survey by the workgroup had found that more than two in three workers had witnessed or experienced abuse or harassment in the year preceding the survey. Among the affected workers, 75 per cent did not report the incidents, enduring the abuse in silence.
The workgroup comprises representatives from MOH, Healthcare Services Employees' Union, public healthcare clusters, community care partners and private healthcare providers.
Under the framework, abuse and harassment are defined as words, communications, actions or behaviours that are inappropriate, threatening and insulting, and cause a healthcare worker to feel intimidated, alarmed or distressed.
They also hinder staff's ability to carry out their duties. Such cases can occur in both physical or virtual settings.
The guide states that, depending on the severity of the abuse or harassment, institutions may remove abusive next-of-kin and visitors from the premises of the healthcare institution.
If necessary, institutions may also disengage in communications with abusive visitors and bar them from visiting patients in the hospital for a period of time.
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