A New Governance Structure for National University Hospital and NUS School of Medicine

21 Oct 2007

MOE and MOH have jointly agreed for NUS and NHG to establish a new governance structure for the NUS School of Medicine (NUS-SoM) and the National University Hospital (NUH).  

For more than 20 years, a close and strong working relationship has been developed between NUH and NUS-SoM, but they remain as 2 separate entities with staff from NUH and NUS-SoM reporting to NHG and NUS respectively.  Under the new governance structure, NUH and NUS-SoM will be repositioned as a joint operating entity.  This new NUH-SoM entity will be governed by one Governing Board which will include senior members from NHG, NUS, MOH and MOE.  The joint entity will be led by a Chief Executive who will hold a senior academic appointment in NUS and will report to the Governing Board.  The Dean of the SoM and the Hospital CEO will report to the Chief Executive.

The new governance structure will allow doctors, faculty and staff to work even more effectively together and to achieve greater synergies, in clinical care delivery, medical training and research.  In particular, the Board and the CE of the joint NUH-SoM entity will oversee a common budget and resource allocation system, as well as a common Human Resource framework for all staff.

NUH will remain a member of the National Healthcare Group, and continue to benefit from collaborations, patient referrals and shared central and support services.  The SoM will remain a part of NUS.  MOE and MOH will remain jointly responsible for the performance of the Kent Ridge Campus.  Given the importance of clinical care to the general public, MOH will play a larger leading role and be accountable to the public for the performance of the entity.  Funding will continue to come from MOE (for academic activities) and MOH (for clinical care).  The unified Board will determine how the combined budget is to be used, in order to achieve the aims of advancing medical education, research and healthcare delivery priorities in an integrated fashion.  MOH and MOE will provide additional resources to develop selected key capabilities and programmes. Funding for research activities will continue to be allocated on a competitive basis from research funding boards such as A*STAR, NMRC and NRF.

The change will benefit Singaporeans.  The new governance structure and the aligned use of resources will enable NUH-SoM to be better able to meet the healthcare needs of Singaporeans now and in the future, train future generations of doctors more effectively and help develop solutions to our healthcare problems through research.  The focus on clinical research adopted by the unified entity will be increasingly important for higher standards of clinical practice and patient care.

The proposal was presented at the 12th meeting of the Biomedical Sciences International Advisory Council on 19th October 2007, where it received a strong endorsement. Sir Richard Sykes, Chair of the BMS IAC, and Rector of Imperial College London, said, “This move to unify the governance of the NUS School of Medicine and National University Hospital follows best international practice. This model is common in the US, and is becoming more widely adopted in Europe. Imperial College has just adopted this model as well.  It is the best way to bring science and medicine to the bedside and benefit patients with the latest scientific and technological discoveries. International data shows that the healthcare in such set-ups is clearly much better, as shown by patient data and mortality rates. Patients can look forward to a higher quality of care.

A Steering Committee, chaired by PS (Health), has been formed to oversee the overall implementation process.  The Steering Committee is working closely with NUH and NUS-SoM management and staff so as to fully realize the opportunities afforded by the new governance structure and to ensure that any concerns of the staff are addressed.