OPENING ADDRESS BY MR ONG YE KUNG, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND COORDINATING MINISTER FOR SOCIAL POLICIES, AT THE NUHS NURSES’ DAY 2025 CELEBRATION

Mr Tan Chong Meng, Chairman, National University Health System (NUHS) Board

Professor Yeoh Khay Guan, Chief Executive, NUHS

Ms Paulin Koh, Chief Nursing Officer, Ministry of Health (MOH)

Dr Catherine Koh, Group Chief Nurse, NUHS

Nurses, ladies and gentlemen

1. It gives me great pleasure to be back at NUHS to join you for the 2025 Nurses’ Day celebration. We do this every year to celebrate and honour the hard work and dedication of all our nurses. You make up more than half of Singapore's professional healthcare workforce.

Backbone of the Healthcare System

2. You are truly the backbone of the healthcare system. Why do I always say that?

3. This is because first, without you, there is no healthcare infrastructure. It will be an empty shell, with nobody running it. Over the next few years, we have some important infrastructure to develop. We will see a few important healthcare institutions coming to fruition in the Western part of Singapore. This includes new polyclinics in Tengah, Yew Tee and Taman Jurong, and redeveloped ones in Clementi, Jurong and Queenstown.

4. Two NUHS hospitals will also be redeveloped over the next decade — Alexandra Hospital which will progressively open from 2028, and the National University Hospital Kent Ridge campus, where we are, in the following decade. Planning has also commenced for a new integrated general and community hospital in Tengah Town. So a lot is happening in the West

5. Work has started to recruit, train and prepare the nursing talent pool for a few of these projects. I look forward to your contribution in making these new institutions shining examples of healthcare excellence in Singapore.

6. Further, we need your firm guiding hands as we implement new healthcare strategies and policies.

7. Take for example the Mobile Inpatient Care at Home (MIC@Home). At NUHS, you call it NUHS@Home. This brings hospital-level care into the homes of clinically suitable patients. Having implemented this over some time, we find that the level of care and outcomes are on par with those who stay in hospitals. MIC@Home has enabled us to add capacity to our system in a very cost-efficient way. All in all, we have about 250 equivalent beds with MIC@Home, 100 are from NUHS.

8. Under MIC@Home, nurses do not just deliver frontline clinical care, but work behind the scenes to coordinate, educate, support and deploy technology such as the Smart Glasses and remote monitoring systems. Because of nurses, we always talk about shifting the centre of gravity of care from hospitals to the community. Because of nurses, now this goes beyond a concept. This is reality. Care is really moving into the community.

9. At NUHS, nurses also play a big part in improving patient experience. Through a self-initiated innovation, you were trained to perform intravitreal (IVT) eye injections. This procedure was previously done only by ophthalmologists. This has reduced appointment time from an average of five weeks, now down to one week. In addition, the wait time for patients at the clinic for pre-booked IVT eye injections has been reduced from 2.5 hours to one hour, all because of your self-initiated innovation.

Healthcare Agenda in the Coming Years

10. Recently, when I was reappointed as Minister for Health, someone asked me if MOH will be implementing more ‘SG-type’ national health strategy in this new term of government. I was a bit puzzled. What do you mean ‘SG-type’ health strategy? They say – Healthier SG, Age Well SG, Grow Well SG – ‘SG-type’ health strategies!’ I tell them, not likely, probably no, because having laid these important policies, they form a strong policy foundation that we can build upon. And so in the next few years, we need to implement them well, and implement them even better.

11. These national programmes are our core responses to an ageing population with rising healthcare demand. The healthcare agenda in the coming years will therefore focus on a few key thrusts:

12. First, as I mentioned earlier, infrastructure expansion – new hospitals, new polyclinics, with sufficient qualified manpower and nurses to operate them. With rising healthcare demand, this is a key priority.

13. Second, deepen and broaden the implementation of the ‘SG-type’ health strategies - Healthier SG, Age Well SG, Grow Well SG. Through Healthier SG, we are now into the second period of implementation. It is very important that the enrolled residents go back to their GPs and have their follow-up and check-ins. It is important for them to build this health seeking habit and see their family doctor even though they are not sick. We must build up strong community and environmental support that encourages our residents to lead healthier lifestyles. Stop smoking, if they can. Have better diet, more active physical activities.

14. A strong avenue of support for seniors is Age Well SG, through its network of Active Ageing Centres (AACs) and very senior-friendly living environment. We need to take the next crucial step, and this is a very important one. What is it? It is first, to expand the programmes and outreach of the AACs, to make sure we know all the seniors living in the vicinity, not just the ones who always come visit the AACs but also those who do not visit the AACs. Get to know them. Knock on their doors, outreach to them. Second, and important crucial step is to strengthen the presence of healthcare services in the Centres, through our Community Health Posts. Community nurses will be the first point of contact for residents seeking support for preventive care needs and to manage their chronic conditions.

15. Promising community care models are emerging. In Queenstown, NUHS, you have launched the Happy Village @ Mei Ling, under your Health District initiative this year. The care team comprises community nurses, allied health professionals, social care partners, and volunteers. Happy Village @ Mei Ling brings health education, screenings, vaccinations, exercise and social engagement, all into the heart of the community, combining the offerings of both an AAC and a Community Health Post.

16. We can also do more in Grow Well SG, targeted at the young, in partnership with other stakeholders such as schools and preschools, to support our young to grow up more healthily. We want to make a special effort to build up and safeguard the mental wellbeing of our young, in partnership with families and the community.

17. Third priority, we will harness the power of technology. Technology, such as telemedicine and AI, will decisively shift the delivery of healthcare away from hospitals into the community. So Healthier SG, Age Well SG, with technology, will be boosted to become community-anchored national programmes. There is also a strong ground-up proliferation of good AI use cases in healthcare. We will implement them thoughtfully and judiciously. As a nurse said in the video clip just now, it is impossible for technology to replace the work of a nurse, but it can make your job better. You can perform with higher productivity.

18. Fourth priority, we need to develop and re-skill our manpower to support this new healthcare landscape. We need to establish new skills pathways, especially for nurses, to contribute effectively in areas of rising demand, such as palliative care, long-term care and community nursing. We will work with the clusters and institutes of higher learning to develop these pathways.

Closing

19. We know we can count on the support of nurses, as we carry out our priorities for this next term of healthcare agenda. Over the decades, it is through this dedication and commitment of nurses that we could develop the well-regarded healthcare system that we have today.

20. Today, we celebrate the achievements of 160 nurses. These are the recipients of the NUHS Nightingale Award, Joycelyn Khoo Award, Student Nightingale Award and MOH Nurses’ Merit Award.

21. I want to especially highlight the new Student Nightingale Award. It is to recognise student nurses and reflect NUHS’ commitment to nurturing nursing talent. Indeed, we must always invest in our young, so that they can carry this ethos of care, innovation, purpose and pride of the profession forward.

22. On Nurses’ Day 2025, let us once again salute our nurses, for your role as caregivers, lifesavers, advocates, educators and innovators. For MOH, we will pledge to continue to be committed to supporting you and developing your careers to the best of your potential. And we will always uphold this spirit amongst the Singaporean society that we must continue to accord the respect, appreciation and kindness to our nursing profession. Happy Nurses’ Day! Thank you.