​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

 


Assoc Prof Guo Chang Ming
Senior Consultant
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Singapore General Hospital (SGH)

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.
Assoc Prof Guo also often draws inspiration from the most unexpected of sources for his research projects. For example, his inspiration for an injectable bone cement that starts off molten and hardens when exposed to body temperature came from baby crab shells, which also start off soft and harden as the crab ages.



Dr Soong Poh Luon
Senior Consultant
Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
National Dental Centre Singapore (NDCS)

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

 


Sinnatamby Savithri
Senior Nurse Manager
Ward 58
Changi General Hospital (CGH)

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
Nurse Clinician
Ward 58 – General Surgery
Singapore General Hospital (SGH)

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.



Jennifer Tan Mae Yung
Senior Enrolled Nurse
Specialist Oncology Clinic B
National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS)

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

 


Mariam Bte Din
Social Work Assistant
Medical Social Services
Changi General Hospital (CGH)

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 Chan Suk Ee
Patient Relations Associate Executive
Clinical Operations – ATU
National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS)

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
Senior Consultant
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Singapore General Hospital

Dr Soong Poh Luon
Senior Consultant
Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
National Dental Centre Singapore

Nursing Category

Sinnatamby Savithri
Senior Nurse Manager
Ward 58
Changi General Hospital

Ye Li Zhen
Nurse Clinician
Ward 58 – General Surgery
Singapore General Hospital

Jennifer Tan Mae Yung
Senior Enrolled Nurse
Specialist Oncology Clinic B
National Cancer Centre Singapore

Allied Health Category

Mariam Bte Din
Social Work Assistant
Medical Social Services
Changi General Hospital

Intermediate and Long-Term Care
Anna Lee Suan Cheow
Principal Occupational Therapist
Inpatient Therapy Services
St. Andrew’s Community Hospital

Ancillary Category

Diana Chan Suk Ee
Patient Relations Associate Executive
Clinical Operations – ATU
National Cancer Centre Singapore

Intermediate and Long-Term Care
Bridget Monica Das
Head of Department
Social Work & Counselling Department
Ren Ci Hospital

Best Team Award

- Clinical Practice Improvement Category

Revivors
National Heart Centre Singapore

Intermediate and Long-Term Care
Continence Management Team
NTUC Health Nursing Home

- Patient Experience Improvement Category

Bedside Handover Team
KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital

Intermediate and Long-Term Care
1 FA Team
Ren Ci Hospital

Special Mention
NeMSW Team
Inter-Clusters (National University Health System, National Healthcare Group & SingHealth)

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.