SIGNAGES IN PUBLIC HOSPITALS

SIGNAGES IN PUBLIC HOSPITALS:

(In four official languages): 16.

Ms Sylvia Lim asked the Minister for Health whether the Government will consider mandating that signages in public hospitals be in the four official languages so as to make public hospitals more navigable to those not literate in English.

The Minister of State for Health (Mr Heng Chee How) (for the Minister for Health): Mr Speaker, Sir, proper signages contribute to a good hospital design. They allow patients and visitors to move within the hospital with ease, without getting lost. There are several elements to an effective signage system. First, there must be sufficient signages. Second, signages should be prominent and be clearly understood. Third, they must cater to the different language abilities of our patients and visitors.

As hospitals become more complicated buildings with multiple departments and service centres, hospital signage design has evolved into a specialty, and a hospital planning team will normally include a hospital signage consultant as one of its important members. This is the approach we take in our design of public hospitals. Over the years, we have learnt a lot from experience and used the feedback to enhance our hospital signage system. Our current hospital signages can be further improved but, generally, they are adequate. We are open to suggestions and our hospitals will respond to feedback, where appropriate, to make the system better.

In short, we take a practical approach to this problem, rather than insisting that all signages should be in the four official languages. Indeed, a good pictorial signage is often more effective than one in words. As far as possible, we rely on pictorial signages.

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But signages in words cannot be avoided all together. In such cases, we use all four languages where practical. Sometimes, this is not feasible, as doing so will result in a cluttered and unwieldy signage which will then be ineffective.

That said, we are mindful of the needs of those who cannot read English and will continue to enhance our signages to make them more user-friendly.

Ms Sylvia Lim (Non-Constituency Member): Sir, I thank the Minister of State for his answer. I have feedback from older residents, especially those who are not literate in English, that they find going to hospitals **** a stressful experience. Because even though there are signages, they do not understand the signages because they are largely in English. I have also noted from my own visits that most of the signages, even for key directions, such as pharmacies and clinics, are all largely in English. Will the Ministry please take this feedback seriously and to study whether patients can actually negotiate within the hospitals if they cannot read English proficiently?

Mr Heng Chee How: Sir, I thank the Member for her feedback. We will certainly endeavour to further improve our signage systems. And if there is a feedback about a particular hospital, eg, a particular experience, we welcome that feedback so that we can actually look into it. We will, on our part, continue to review our systems periodically, using internal processes, but we certainly welcome specific feedback that can help us improve.

Mr Low Thia Khiang (Hougang): Sir, I would like to inform the Minister of State and it is a feedback that I have on Tan Tock Seng Hospital which ---

Mr Speaker: Mr Low, are you asking a question or giving feedback?

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Mr Low Thia Khiang: I would like to ask the Minister of State whether he is aware of the problem in Tan Tock Seng Hospital, which is also linked to Tan Tock Seng Medical Centre. I understand that most of the signages are in English, and many of the patients who visited the hospital got lost, because it is very difficult for them to navigate in the hospital and suddenly they find themselves in the medical centre. I have received quite a lot of complaints. I do not know whether the Minister of State is aware. From my personal experience, perhaps Tan Tock Seng Hospital should relook at the signages.

Mr Heng Chee How: Sir, I also thank the Member for giving this feedback about Tan Tock Seng Hospital. We will certainly relay this to the hospital for their review. As mentioned in my answer just now, we recognise that hospital complexes are becoming more complicated. There are multiple departments and so on. We do recognise that proper signages in understandable form and language that would service the users best are important. We will endeavour to make further improvements, and we will take into account this particular feedback.