Consideration of Past Years of Service for Nurses Rejoining Public Healthcare Institutions

Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Health whether nurses who have resigned and rejoined the public nursing profession will have their previous years of service taken into consideration for the benefits under the new long-term retention scheme for nurses, regardless of their reason for leaving.

Mr Ong Ye Kung: The design of the long-term retention scheme for nurses seeks to encourage them to build a lifelong career in nursing in the publicly-funded healthcare system. When the scheme starts in September 2024, we will start accumulating the year count of nurses on the scheme. If a nurse resigns, this will be considered an exit. If the nurse rejoins the public system in future, the nurse's previous years on the scheme can be reinstated regardless of the reasons for leaving.