59 SPD staff were awarded the COVID-19 Healthcare Hero Award at the Singapore Health Quality Service Awards (SHQSA) – Special Edition 2021 ceremony on 29 March. Graced by Minister for Health Mr Gan Kim Yong, the awards were given to SPD staff in recognition of their efforts in going the extra mile – beyond their job responsibilities and work hours – to join in Singapore’s fight against the pandemic in 2020.

As part of the SPD’s Medical Emergency Response Team, the staff manned the temperature screening and safe entry declaration stations to ensure that clients, caregivers, vendors and visitors to our centres adhere to the stringent safe management guidelines. This was instrumental in our organisation’s efforts to manage the COVID-19 situation within SPD.

Organised as a special edition of the SHQSA and themed “Celebration of Unity in the fight against COVID-19”, this is the largest dedicated healthcare service excellence event in Singapore to honour and celebrate the exemplary efforts of healthcare professionals in improving patient experience.

In addition to the Healthcare Hero Award, our colleagues from the Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children (EIPIC) have also won the Best Team Special Mention Award for their Remotely Enabled Services initiative, which was set up to support caregivers and their children when services were temporarily suspended during the circuit breaker period. The EIPIC team turned to video conferencing and online communications to support these children and their caregivers.

“We started by ensuring that families had the necessary devices to access online resources and virtual consultations,” shared Tan Siew Huei, Senior Teacher, EIPIC, SPD@Jurong. They provided or helped repair laptops, sourced for devices such as tablets, and referred some families to Social Service Offices to tap on available funds to obtain the devices.

In expressing his gratitude to the team, SPD Chief Executive Officer, Mr Abhimanyau Pal, said: “I am extremely  proud that our colleagues have shown courage and went the extra mile for our clients and colleagues during a challenging time. Thank you for weathering the storm together with SPD and showing strength and unity in the face of adversity. Each and every one of you deserves this award.”

Congratulations to all our colleagues on winning this award!