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Healthcare worker 4.0: Upskilling for more than 60% of Singapore's public healthcare workers

On 3 December 2019, the Healthcare Academy signed two MOUs with the National Healthcare Group (NHG) and Singapore Health Services (SingHealth) respectively, in a bid to upskill more than 60% of the public healthcare sector workforce across a total of 22 institutions.

As a result of the MOUs, the Healthcare Academy – comprising the Healthcare Services Employees’ Union (HSEU), NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) and NTUC LearningHub – together with NHG and SingHealth will establish Jobs, Skills and Training committees at their respective cluster levels to synergise transformation and learning across and within the various institutions.

This will entail HSEU working with management to identify skills and competencies gaps and develop structured training frameworks, as well as with e2i and LearningHub to facilitate training and learning.

The MOUs were witnessed by NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Heng Chee How.

This comes after the Healthcare Academy has established Company Training Committees (CTCs) with Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) in May, as well as the National University Health System and NTUC Health in August this year, impacting some 24,000 workers.

Building on this momentum, the two new CTCs will further benefit more than 9,000 workers under NHG and 27,000 workers under SingHealth, who may see their jobs being disrupted or redesigned in the next five to ten years.

Job classification of workers that will be impacted include health attendants, hospital porters, storekeepers, pharmacy assistants, pharmacy technicians and drivers, to name a few.

K. Thanaletchimi, President of HSEU said, "This is the first step, but an important one, and I look forward to continued and strengthened partnerships with both NHG and SingHealth, to drive innovation and productivity, through translating these changes into real actionables for workers and ensuring that every healthcare worker is equipped with the necessary skills to become Healthcare Worker 4.0, as Singapore’s healthcare system ramps up in demand and complexity."

The MOU will also see the formation of committee workgroups at the institution and domain level respectively, with the aim to develop new skills, facilitate the smooth transition of existing workers and new workers into new and redesigned job roles and enhance skills upgrading initiatives.

For example, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital worked with HSEU to upskill all 46 of its existing hospital porters to become more involved with direct patient care as healthcare chaperones.

Lead image / Signatories for the MOU include: Kwek Kok Kwong, NTUC LearningHub CEO; Philip Choo, NHG Group CEO; K. Thanaletchimi, HSEU President; Professor Ivy Ng, SingHealth Group CEO; and Vicky Wong, NTUC e2i Deputy CEO.

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