Speech by Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State for Trade & Industry and Manpower at the Thomson Medical Centre Customer-Centric Initiative (CCI) Learning Journey on 27 January 2010 (Wed), 2pm

Dr Cheng Wei Chen,

Chairman, Thomson Medical Centre

Dr Cheng Li Chang, Deputy Chairman,

Thomson Medical Centre

Mr Allan Yeo, Group Chief Executive Officer,

Thomson Medical Centre

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon.

I am pleased to join you at this afternoon’s CCI Learning Journey at Thomson Medical Centre.

Importance of Service in Healthcare Sector

Singapore’s healthcare sector is one of the key service sectors in Singapore’s economy, comprising over 4,100 establishments and employing about 61,000 workers.The total operating receipts of our healthcare industry in 2008 was S$7.7 billion, with total value-add amounting to S$4.14 billion.

In September 2008, Minister Khaw Boon Wan launched the Customer-Centric Initiative (CCI) for the Healthcare sector to rally healthcare providers to “raise the bar” in service standards.14 healthcare organisations from the private and public healthcare sector, representing 167 healthcare establishments and close to 27,000 healthcare workers, pledged to raise their service levels and make patient-centric care a priority by embarking on the CCI journey.

Over the last 15 months, these 14 organisations allocated manpower and resources to identify service gaps and implement initiatives to improve service. Today, I am happy to see that their commitment and effort are showing results.

Healthcare Sector Performance on CSISG

Two days ago, I announced the 2009’s “Customer Satisfaction Index (CSISG) for Singapore”. It improved from 67.8 in 2008 to 68.0 in 2009.Among the 8 sectors measured by the index, the Healthcare sector did the best. It achieved the biggest improvement in satisfaction scores, leaping from 67.6 in 2008 to 68.9 in 2009.I am heartened to note that despite the economic downturn, our healthcare providers have invested in improving patient satisfaction and their efforts have paid off.

Within the healthcare sector, the customer satisfaction score of the General Practitioners sub-sector saw the biggest improvement with a jump of about 3 points, from 67.9 to 70.8.The best performing Healthcare sub-sector was however, the PrivateHospital sub-sector, scoring 72.4 in 2009, from 69.9 in 2008. This sub-sector also topped the Customer Satisfaction sub-sector ranking across 36 sub-sectors last year. ISES representatives will elaborate on the results later.

In the PrivateHospital sub-sector, Thomson Medical Centre was the best performer, scoring 73.3. This is significantly higher than the healthcare sector’s average score of 68.9. To our venue host, management and staff of Thomson Medical, you have done extremely well. My heartiest congratulations!

Thomson Medical Centre’s CCI Journey

I believe Thomson Medical Centre’s success is not by chance. In fact, Thomson Medical Centre’s satisfaction score was 69.4 and ranked 3rd in the PrivateHospital sub-sector in 2008.Within a year, Thomson Medical Centre improved by 4.4 points to 73.3 to ranked 1st in the Private Hospital sub-sector.Many, including myself, would ask “How did you do it? What were your secrets?”

As one of the pioneering healthcare companies that embarked on the CCI journey in 2008, Thomson Medical Centre boldly took up the challenge to improve patient care and satisfaction by focusing on three areas: perceived quality, patient expectations, and perceived value - the three key drivers in the Customer Satisfaction Index methodology.

By focusing its efforts on these areas, Thomson Medical improved patient satisfaction by 10%. More importantly, patient loyalty level also improved by a significant 5.4%.These results led to better business performance as revenue grew by 12% last year.

Lessons from Thomson Medical Centre’s CCI Learning Journey

As seen in Thomson Medical’s case study, Customer Centric Initiative is not an abstract concept or some theoretical construct. It demonstrated how businesses can improve their business process, train their workers, and adopt technology to improve the quality of their products and services, while pursuing service excellence. In short, it creates happy customers. Happy customers in turn lead to higher revenue and profitability.

I would therefore encourage many services sector companies to emulate the fine example of Thomson Medical to embark on Customer Centric Initiatives for themselves. Under the CCI, SPRING and WDA stand ready to assist you. Let’s embark on the journey to service excellence and higher productivity together.

Thank you.