Cap on Work Hours for Doctors and Nurses

NOTICE PAPER NO. 890
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER
 FOR THE SECOND AVAILABLE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang,
MP for Nee Soon GRC

Question No. 2850

To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether the Ministry intends to have a cap on the number of hours a (i) nurse and (ii) doctor can work for each shift; and (b) if not, why not.

Answer

The Ministry does not intend to impose any additional caps on the working hours for healthcare workers beyond what is already stipulated in the Employment Act or the public healthcare cluster’s employment contracts. In addition, for junior doctors, there are existing hospital guidelines such as total allowable work hours per week and the provision of sufficient rest periods. Public healthcare institutions should put in the necessary efforts to adhere to these guidelines.

The experience with the pandemic has shown us that there will be times where healthcare workers will be subject to exigencies of service. Flexibility in deploying healthcare workers is important to ensure that our public healthcare clusters can manage the operational needs on the ground. The public healthcare clusters have established workgroups to look into enhancing the support to healthcare workers and care model transformation that will ensure a more sustainable work-life balance.