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The Healthcare Services Employees’ Union (HSEU) and its Healthcare Academy partners, NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) and NTUC LearningHub (LHUB), have formed a Company Training Committee (CTC) with Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH). The partnership extends to the Centre for Healthcare Innovation (CHI) hosted by TTSH to enable co-learning in healthcare innovation and workforce transformation.
TTSH is the first unionised company in the healthcare industry to ink commitment to transform their employees into Healthcare Worker 4.0. The formation of the CTC will bring the labour-management collaboration to the next level by tapping on expertise in training and placement from the Labour Movement network. It will benefit some 9,000 employees of TTSH, approximately 10 per cent of the overall workforce in the healthcare industry.
The commitment was sealed with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by key representatives from the Healthcare Academy, TTSH and CHI on 7 May 2019. HSEU plays a pivotal role in identifying skill gaps through engagement sessions with union members, working with LHUB to ideate solutions and develop curated training programmes for workers as well as with e2i to facilitate learning by providing different modes of learning such as e-learning. The formal partnership between Healthcare Academy and CHI will allow the partners to develop a structured training framework for the creation of new jobs and new skills.
Since 2013, HSEU and TTSH have been working closely on workplace transformation such as the launch of the Patient Service Associate (PSA) Framework that provides healthcare workers with the opportunities to take on higher value add jobs such as financial counselling, medication supply verification and clinical tasks (for example, venepuncture).
In August 2018, the Healthcare Academy was soft launched at TTSH and approximately 200 union members from 17 healthcare institutions enrolled in pilot courses that focus on mindset change and digital literacy. With the setup of the CTC, TTSH will send 500 employees for training in the first phase.
K. Thanaletchimi, President of HSEU said, “HSEU has been working closely with TTSH in their workforce transformation effort since TTSH embarked on jobs and process transformation. I am heartened that the partnership is cemented with the formalisation of a CTC through the Healthcare Academy. Together with the collaborative partnership with NTUC’s e2i and LHUB, we have a sound recipe for a successful industry transformation journey where the employer is the compass that sets the direction of change and drives transformation whereas the union is the mobiliser that engages our workers and bring them on board swiftly and seamlessly. We hope with TTSH as the first mover, other healthcare institutions will come on board and set up CTCs which will ultimately benefit both the workers and employers.”
“NTUC’s e2i has been creating recruitment solutions with TTSH to attract the necessary workforce for the hospital’s expansion. For the companies to truly grow and improve staff retention, recruitment initiatives must be done in conjunction with training for their workers. e2i, as part of the Healthcare Academy, is pleased to work with an innovative company such as TTSH to try new ways of training such as U Leap. This will allow TTSH’s workforce to stay up-to-date on current trending issues and participate in various learning communities to exchange knowledge. Such progressive learning practices will allow TTSH to be prepared for the new and increasing demands of the healthcare industry,” said Gilbert Tan, Chief Executive Officer of e2i.
Kwek Kok Kwong, Chief Executive Officer of LHUB, said, "LHUB is excited to be a part of this CTC together with HSEU, e2i and TTSH. As the first such partnership in the healthcare industry, this shows TTSH to be a pioneer. We will work closely together to achieve our joint goal of upskilling 9,000 TTSH workers in a transformed healthcare environment. This also showcases the strong momentum of the Healthcare Academy, as we seek to transform our current healthcare workers to be ready for future jobs and equip them with relevant adaptive skills, technology skills and technical skills.”
“CHI, powered by Singapore’s largest co-learning healthcare innovation network comprising 37 local and overseas partners, aims to empower our healthcare workforce and organisations to co-create the future of health from ideation to innovation to implementation. We take a systems-based approach to healthcare innovation – the CHI Innovation Cycle – starting with care redesign to optimise outcomes and value for patients; then applying technologies to enable the new process and redesigning better jobs for our workforce. This allows us to pursue sustainable major changes in healthcare with the use of new technologies and the transformation of our workforce. This MOU with Healthcare Academy is hence an important milestone to our strategic efforts to help our workforce adapt, be part of the transformation and stay employable in the industry as healthcare organisations pursue innovation to meet the evolving demands presented by more complex needs with an ageing population” said Eugene Fidelis Soh, Chief Executive Officer of TTSH.
David Dhevarajulu, Executive Director of CHI, said, “Transformation is really about the people. How do we engage and empower them to be agile, digitally dextrous, equipped with tools to iteratively reinvent themselves to remain current even as healthcare models change? I see this collaboration with the Healthcare Academy enabling this.”
This initiative is in line with the Labour Movement’s focus to implement the CTCs through the 3As – Acceptance of Technology, Adoption of Technology and Actualisation of Value by both Business and Workers. The Labour Movement and its affiliated unions will be working closely with more companies in different sectors to transform workers and better position them for the future.
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