Abstract
This research focuses on redesigning employment models and employment benefits in order to retain civil servant healthcare workforce. The research leverages the process of design thinking or human-centered design as a methodology. The target users of the redesign exercise in this research are 1. physicians, 2. dentists, 3. pharmacists, and 4. nurses. Taking into consideration the systems perspective of this research, the research team has also involved employers and relevant policy makers throughout the process. Starting with in-depth interviews of the stakeholders, the research team has come up with five potential employment models for further adjustment and consideration in employing future civil servant healthcare workforce. The five models are: 1. Flexible employment scheme: providing a more flexible part-time positions for healthcare workforce in city hospitals 2. Part-time employment with private sector benefits: providing private sector employment and benefits for healthcare workforce outside the civil service working hours 3. Employment through healthcare districts: providing more flexibility in handling healthcare workforce and resources by shifting the employer role from the hospitals or healthcare centers to the healthcare districts 4. Employment through non-government health units: extending civil servant health employment to cover employment in selected non-government health units, and 5. Redesigning employment restriction: allowing employers to manager their own lumpsum funds rather than strictly allocating the fund per head The research team recommends that a healthcare regulatory sandbox should be set up to design and test some of the proposed redesigning of the employment schemes so policymakers can gather feedback and leverage on the learning to revise and replicate effective schemes and models in a larger context.
