Planning a BCM/BCP is a series of strategic plans to be implemented to mitigate or minimize any condition that could potentially close or create a major disruption in service provision. Individual departments may have specific contingency plans in response to certain actions occurring, but it may not be “plugged-in” to an organization wide plan to prepare a response to a disruptive event that potentially threatens operation, or the survival of the organisation. Steve Sobak provides insight into how the Singapore healthcare industry embraces BCM in a holistic manner.

1. IMPLEMENTING BCM IN THE
HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY:
SINGAPORE EXPERIENCE
Steve Sobak
Chief Executive Officer
Singapore Cord Blood Bank

2. IMPLEMENTING BCM IN THE HEALTHCARE
INDUSTRY: SINGAPORE EXPERIENCE
Periodically, Contacted and Asked about the Process
of Preparing a Hospital (or Healthcare Institution to
Undertake the Journey of Becoming a Business
Continuity Plan Certified Facility

3. AGENDA
• Understanding the Basics
• Reviewing the Processes
• Reviewing Key Success Factors
• Sharing Key Benefits of Having a BCP

4. AGENDA
Sharing the process from a Personal Perspective of
Having gone through the Certification Process about
11 Years Ago
• While that May Sound like a Long Time Ago, the Process is
still essentially the same
• Still Requires the same level of commitment
• Still continues to be refined, with each Certification Cycle
• Continues to experience new, but recurring themes, which
need to be addressed and updated

5. UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS
Who were the Drivers Then, Now?
 Board of Directors
o Audit Committee
 Senior Management

6. UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS
What were the Drivers for Getting into the BCP Mode
back in 2003?
o Terrorism, 9/11
o Lack of Business Transparency and Fraud, eg Enron
o Epidemics/Pandemics, eg, SARs
o Financial Failures

7. UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS
What are the Drivers of Getting into the BCP Mode in
2014?
o Terrorism, Hospitals now soft Secondary Targets
o IT Cyber Attacks
o Epidemics/Pandemics, eg, MERs, Ebola, various
mutations of Bird Flues
o Financial Product Failures

8. UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS
Where did we Implement the BCP?
o All the Healthcare Facilities under the Banner of
Singapore Health Services
- Hospitals (3)
- Specialty Centres (5)
- Poly-Clinics (9)
o Became the first Healthcare Group to achieve
Certification in SE Asia

9. UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS
Why Was the Board Concerned?
o Governance
- Corporate Responsibility
- Corporate Accountability
- Corporate Liability

10. UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS
How Did We Go About to Become BCP Compliant?
o Board Appointed a Senior Individual in the
Organization to Lead
o Worked as a Team for Sharing and Standardising at
a High Level
o Worked as Teams with the Organization
- Stratified Downward

11. UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS
When did we Start and End the Initial Phase of the
Project?
o Started in December 2003
o Ended in March 2005
o All the Institutions, Centres, and Poly-Clinics Inspected,
Tested, Ultimately Passed, and Certified
First Hurdle to Clear - Your Organization’s Board, and
Senior Management must be Motivated, and Driven to
Implement, otherwise implementation Will Not Succeed,
You will not Succeed!

12. REVIEWING THE PROCESS
The process Starts with -
Senior Management, who must -
• Educate staff on the Needs to be able to Satisfy Corporate
Governance….
• Remind staff that they are Vulnerable, and “Murphy’s Law”
will prevail over time….
• State they need to do “due diligence”, and take ownership….
• Impress upon staff they have a responsibility to save lives,
and preserve equipment, and other assets of the Owners…
• Comply with Accreditation Organizations that want and
expect Business Continuity to be in place, eg,
- JCI,
- SQA/C

13. REVIEWING THE PROCESS
• If all else fails, ask the question, where do you tell 200 to, 8000
staff (looking to you for direction) to report if denied access to
their Department, or Building for an extended time? When
do you make that plan?
• How does ONE address the Board, Families, Public, and Media
if no plans have been made and a preventable event occurs?
How do you manage key Stakeholders (Board of Directors,
Shareholders, Ministries, Staff, Patients and Families) who all
have a vested interest in your organization. Within the first
hours of a Crisis, Senior Management actions will define both
their leadership quality, and future of the organization!

14. REVIEWING THE PROCESS
Also by virtue of you attending this session, your Company/
Organization cannot claim ignorance of the responsibility in the
event an incident occurs that justifies activation of BCP
- Unless YOU did not provide the feedback (in which case,
your position is vulnerable)

15. REVIEWING THE PROCESS
Middle Management (Department Heads of Imaging, Pharmacy,
Lab, Clinic Head, Administration) Must Mobilize the Masses in
their Areas of Responsibility
• Appoint and Develop Champions and Business Unit Leaders
who both appreciate and “buy into” the Principles and
Purpose of BCP
• Participate in Training and Orientation Sessions
• Manage Department and Business Unit
• Ensure Everyone is Aligned on the Objectives, and Conditions
for Which the BCP being planned
- Cannot be divergent

16. REVIEWING THE PROCESS
Lower Management (Supervisors, Ward Nurse Managers, Clinic
Managers)
• Easier to manage, once the Senior and Middle Management has
“bought in” and accepted the concept of BCP
• Educate them on the implications of being “out of a workplace”
and the implications for the continued need of their services
• Emphasize the importance of savings lives, and the key roles
they all play in the process and organization….that is what BCP is
all about!!
• Appoint Champions from various areas, who “understand” the
importance, and are willing to promote participation and
compliance

17. REVIEWING THE PROCESS
Front-line Staff (Nurses, Attendants, Receptionists, Porters,
Technicians, Assistants, Environmental Cleaners, Facilities
Repair)
• Create Awareness on the effects if certain events were to
“come to pass”
• Provide specific tasks to the staff, which are very clear and
unambiguous,
• Ensure they know where to report, and what to do
• We need to know how to contact staff… so you must develop
and test a Call Tree

18. REVIEWING THE PROCESS
(continued)
Front-line Staff (Nurses, Attendants, Receptionists, Porters,
Technicians, Assistants, Environmental Cleaners, Facilities
Repair)
• Easiest Group to convince, the Nurses! Terrific Group to work
with as they are with the patients 24 x 7 and quickly
appreciate the significance
• Most Difficult Group to convince, the Doctors….until they
appreciate they will have no place to practice. Further they
have little time to spend in preparation as they are
constantly involved with seeing patients. (HINT: work
through their PAs/Secretaries who manage their schedules)
and tell them “where to go”.

19. REVIEWING THE PROCESS
Remember, Nothing Worthwhile comes Easy, so BE prepared to
make an Investment in Resources, Time, and Development, and
obtain Certification from one of the various professional Assessor
Companies who can Certify the organization’s level of preparedness
Have Realistic Expectations
- Plan the BCP to address various Outcomes, from short to long
term (worst case scenario to most realistic), for the
organization and/or your Department
- Understand that the event for which you are planning may
never actually occur, whatever may occur will most likely
never be exactly as you have planned, so you focus on
outcome and what steps and activities need to be taken to
recover!

20. REVIEWING THE PROCESS
- BCP provides the discipline, structure, and knowledge of the
steps to takes to effect a smoother transition
- We learned BCP is an Art and not a Science, there are many
ways to achieve the desired outcomes, no textbook right or
wrong answer, no textbook detailed specific rules, you only
have the benefit of guidelines/goal posts, as each organization
has its own unique set of circumstances, and characteristics.
Once the concepts of Business Continuity become an internal
part of the Organization (inculcated), only then can Business
Continuity Planning be successfully introduced in the Healthcare
Environment

21. CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
(in managing a healthcare BCP project)
Critical Success Factors for ensuring success are –
• Obtain Support and Commitment at Highest Level of the
Organization
• Develop Corporate Policy
• Attend and obtain training about the importance BCP
• Develop the necessary Work Groups/Teams to address the
requirements of their area, Front- line activities,
Unit/Department, Division, and Corporate level
• Send your Staff for Training appropriate to the Role, and Duties
they will be performing
• Engage External Assistance if necessary to facilitate in the
development, implementing, and testing, DO NOT be shy!
• Create Awareness (spread the word) throughout the
organization

22. CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
(in managing a healthcare BCP project)
• Identify Core Business Competencies
• Identify Core Business Functions that Support the Core
Competencies
• Perform a 360o Risk Analysis Review, and then prioritize, and
perform a Business Impact Analysis
• Develop the Necessary Strategies, which will logically lead to a Plan
• Prepare the Plans
• Test and Exercise Plans on a regular basis, more intensely at the
beginning
• Ensure Program Management is in Place, with regular review,
updates,
• Keep the Board and Senior Management updated and engaged.
Provide Status Reports to the Board, or Board Sub-Committee
tasked with ERM/BCP

23. CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
(in managing a healthcare BCP project)
Managing – KPIs
- Plan
Management has a Plan, and a Structured Timeline
- Size of the Organization
- Level of Commitment
- Previous Plans or Awareness of BCP, ERM, or Contingency
Planning
- Training of Staff
- Completion of the Documentation
- Testing
- Availability of the Auditors

24. CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
(in managing a healthcare BCP project)
 Plans are shared and Accepted by Departments and Key Staff
Staff at all levels must be aware of BCP and their Roles
Testing, and evaluations
- Evidence of Testing, Evaluation, Correcting, and Testing
Again
- Call Tree exercises, simulations, inject exercises
- Documentation of Testing

25. KEY BENEFITS OF HAVING A BCP
A. Board having the Comfort of knowing reasonable actions have
been taken to preserve the organization and Operation
B. Staff have developed an Understanding of Ownership and
Responsibility
C. Instill Discipline amongst the Staff
D. Identifying Weaknesses in the Organization the need to be
remedied
E. Maintain a Competitive Edge
F. Minimize Legal Exposure, and Potentially Reduce Insurance
Premium

26. CLOSING - UNDERSTAND BCP IS A
JOURNEY AND NOT AN END
Business Landscape always changing, new
 Staff (new, and old, keeping them current)
 Departments (redesigned, reporting relationships)
 Buildings (aging, design, renovations)
 Locations (change of business location, satellite clinics)
 Laws (legal requirements)
 Licensing requirements (Ministry or legislatively mandated)
 Technologies (new equipment, processes)
 Business Modalities, and Opportunities
 Threats (weather, terrorism, chemicals)
 Local External Environment (zoning, roads, public transport, etc)
Requires regular review to ensure Plans are still appropriate

27. CLOSING - UNDERSTAND BCP IS A
JOURNEY AND NOT AN END
BCP in Healthcare is a long-term commitment
- Allows us to provide necessary services to our
customers/patients so we need to preserve our operations to be
available when any local event/crisis may occur, but also to be
prepared to take on additional roles and responsibilities during
national type crisis
In Healthcare, about 60% of our expensive resources are in the
Manpower component, which needs to be exercised regularly, just
like the Military and Civil Defense

28. CLOSING - UNDERSTAND BCP IS A
JOURNEY AND NOT AN END
Leave you with the thought that Business Continuity Planning is
but a sub-Set of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), and hope
with this short presentation we have shared –
• Raised your Awareness
• Energized you,
• Provided insight on how to Manage BCP in the healthcare
industry
• Given you a Long Term Perspective

29. IMPLEMENTING BCM IN THE HEALTHCARE
INDUSTRY: SINGAPORE EXPERIENCE
Wish you Success in Your Pursuit of
Certification….
…..And Thank you For Your Attention……