Over 25,000 nurses would get 2.1 months of base salary as retention pay

Last updated on August 1st, 2022 at 03:51 am

As part of efforts to attract and maintain nursing talent, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Sunday that more than 25,000 nurses would receive a special payment equal to between 1.7 and 2.1 months of their base wage. This is part of the initiative to attract and retain nursing expertise on July 31st.

As a kind of retention remuneration, the package will be made available to registered nurses who are currently employed by the public healthcare clusters of National Healthcare Group, National University Health System, and SingHealth.

The benefits package will also be made available to an additional 2,600 nurses who are employed by community care organizations that receive public funding.

“We cannot thank our nurses enough for their tremendous work, especially in this long-drawn pandemic,” said Mr. Ong in a post he made on Facebook this past Sunday.

“So this is an important nurses’ retention payment to attract and retain our nursing talents. We will support them in every way we can.”

It’s Nurses’ Day on August 1st. According to a separate announcement that was issued on Sunday by the Ministry of Health, the Nurse Special Payment (NSP) Package for 2022 acknowledges the significant effort and contribution made by Singapore’s nurses.

The amount of the payment will be determined based on the basic wage that the nurses were receiving as of December 1st, 2022.

This includes the standard NSP of 0.5 months, which will be paid out in December 2022, as well as the enhanced NSP of between 1.2 and 1.6 months, which will be split equally into two tranches and paid out in March 2023 and September 2023 to nurses who remain in continuous service with their employing organization. The regular NSP will be paid out in December 2022, and the enhanced NSP will be paid out between 1.2 and 1.6 months between March 2023 and September 2023.

“As our population ages, the demand for healthcare services and manpower will continue to increase,” according to the MOH.

“The Ministry of Health is committed to building up a local core of nursing workforce to meet our future needs by improving the attractiveness of the nursing profession and growing the local nursing training pipelines for both fresh graduates and mid-career entrants.”

The public healthcare clusters will communicate the NSP’s specifics to the nursing staff employed by the public healthcare institutions in which they are located.

The Agency for Integrated Care will follow up with the publicly-funded community care organizations in order to discuss the funding details for their industry with those organizations.