The Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) announced new partnerships with seven key healthcare and social sector players to ramp up capability-building and develop talent across various areas of integrated care. The seven partners are the Agency for Integrated Care, Fei Yue Community Services, Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital, Lions Befrienders Service Association (Singapore), National Healthcare Group, National University Health System and Singapore Health Services Pte Ltd.
This morning, separate Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) were inked with each partner at the inaugural Integrated Care Learning Symposium organised by SUSS, signifying the commitment from SUSS to develop comprehensive initiatives that will enhance the integrated care sector in Singapore.
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Themed “Strengthening Capabilities for Integrated Care in a ‘Super-aged’ Society’”, the event was graced by Guest-of-Honour Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, Minister, Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Education and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, who also witnessed the MOU signing ceremony.
A first-of-its-kind event, the symposium held at the SUSS Performing Arts Theatre gathered over 400 attendees, including senior representatives from the healthcare and social sector and industry partners, to facilitate knowledge exchange and best practices sharing to raise overall capabilities in delivering integrated care, which has become increasingly important as nearly one in four Singaporeans will be seniors 65 years and above by 2030.
Professor Tan Tai Yong, SUSS President, said, “We are excited to host the first-ever Integrated Care Learning Symposium at SUSS. With Singapore being one of the world’s fastest-ageing nations, the need for comprehensive, coordinated and patient-centric care for seniors has never been more critical. Through the symposium, we hope to lead the way in furthering discussion on tackling existing issues in integrated care and explore how we can better close current gaps. We are also pleased to work with our new partners, all major players in Singapore’s integrated care sector. By tapping on SUSS’ expertise in workplace learning and gerontology, we hope to develop talents and further advance the standard of Singapore’s integrated care sector to improve healthcare outcomes and quality of life for seniors.”
At the symposium, representatives from each partner organisation shared their learnings across a variety of topics on healthcare and community care, including a presentation by a representative from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on healthy ageing. SUSS has an existing collaboration with the WHO Collaborating Centre for Community Health Services at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University to train Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) assessors in Singapore, with 42 assessors trained last year and another 40 to be trained this year with SingHealth.
Images: SUSS
