NUHS AND ITS INSTITUTIONS SECURE GOLD AND MULTIPLE AWARDS AT HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT ASIA AWARDS 2026

Six projects from across the healthcare cluster honoured for community impact, healthcare technology, sustainability and talent development

SINGAPORE, Sept. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- To nurture a future-ready healthcare workforce, the National University Hospital (NUH) developed a scalable and sustainable leadership development system that strengthens leadership capability and builds a strong pipeline of future leaders. The initiative has now been recognised with Gold in the "Best in Talent Development" category at the Hospital Management Asia (HMA) Awards 2026.

The Gold Award was among six projects from the National University Health System (NUHS) and its member institutions that earned awards at the HMA Awards 2026. Beyond talent development, five other initiatives received Excellence Awards across community involvement, healthcare technology and sustainability.

Recognising the need to better prepare staff for leadership roles, NUH introduced a structured leadership pathway designed to strengthen leadership competencies, foster cross-functional collaboration, and translate learning into everyday operational practice, as detailed in the HMA Gold Award project titled "Built from Within: NUH's Approach to Embedding Leadership at Every Level". The initiative systematically builds leadership capability across different career stages, from first-time supervisors to experienced managers. Beyond classroom learning, programmes incorporate workplace application, peer learning, learning reflection and action plans reviewed during appraisal discussions, as well as a residential teambuilding segment where participants engage in team-based challenges alongside senior leaders. Together with dialogue sessions involving the hospital leadership team, these efforts help embed leadership development as a continuous part of professional growth.

The leadership development model has delivered positive results across workforce, leadership and patient outcomes. From 2022 to 2025, 86 section head appointments have been made, while the leadership pipeline grew by 44 per cent and representation of staff under 40 within the talent pool increased by 65 per cent. Employee engagement scores relating to training and career development improved by nine percentage points during the same period, while overall patient satisfaction increased from about 85 per cent to 92 per cent. By moving beyond standalone training programmes to a sustainable leadership development system, NUH is strengthening its ability to develop future leaders while delivering benefits for staff and patients alike.

Strengthening care through community and collaboration 

Recognised with an Excellence Award in the "Best in Community Involvement" category at the HMA Awards 2026, Parkinson's Café @ Alexandra Hospital (AH) combines clinical care, peer support and caregiver engagement in a social group setting. Developed to bridge the gap between periodic medical appointments and community support groups for patients with Parkinson's disease, the programme brings together doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and care managers in small group sessions of eight to ten participants that provide personalised care while fostering shared learning and support.

Since its pilot launch in April 2025, the programme has expanded beyond its initial five sessions, providing people living with Parkinson's disease with regular access to multidisciplinary care between clinic visits. The unique model supports earlier intervention, better symptom management and stronger caregiver support, while enabling care teams to coordinate treatment plans and deliver more holistic, person-centred care. Patients have also reported greater confidence in managing their condition and gain practical coping strategies and support from others facing similar challenges.

Another Excellence Award recipient in the same category took a different approach to community engagement, focusing on strengthening organ donation through a structured programme spanning both clinical practice and community engagement.

Led by the National University Centre for Organ Transplantation (NUCOT) at NUH, the "Closing the Gap: Building a Culture of Organ Donation Through Clinical Education and Community Engagement" project was developed to address Singapore's ongoing need for organ donors and foster greater understanding of organ donation among healthcare professionals and the public alike.

Recognising that organ donation remains a topic not commonly discussed, NUCOT implemented targeted education programmes, multidisciplinary training, simulation exercises and workflow improvements to equip healthcare teams with the knowledge and confidence to identify potential organ donation opportunities. Through the training and empowerment of specialised nurses, coupled with the introduction of structured protocols, the team strengthened and standardised donor identification practices, particularly in neuro-related deaths. These efforts resulted in a 30.3 per cent increase in the number of potential organ donor cases identified and escalated for assessment between 2024 and 2025, enabling more patients to receive a second chance at life.

Beyond the hospital, NUCOT expanded its outreach through public roadshows, achieving an average 11.7 per cent increase in organ donation knowledge and awareness among visitors in 2025. Through educational videos, school talks and partnerships with healthcare institutions and community organisations, NUCOT continued to encourage open conversations about organ donation and transplantation in the community.

Advancing sustainable healthcare through innovation and resource efficiency

Two initiatives received the HMA Excellence Awards in the "Most Sustainable Hospital" category for advancing sustainability through practical innovations in healthcare delivery. Since 2025, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH)'s "From Waste to Worth: Sustainable Reuse of Reverse Osmosis (RO) Reject Water in the Kidney Unit" project has pioneered the recovery and reuse of RO reject water generated by dialysis services, making it one of Singapore's first hospital-based water recovery and reuse initiatives. Applying circular-economy principles, the project closes the water loop by capturing and repurposing about 70 per cent of dialysis RO reject water that would otherwise be discharged, giving it a second life through landscape irrigation. This strengthens water stewardship while maintaining strict clinical, engineering and infection prevention standards.

Through this approach, this initiative saves approximately nine million litres of drinking water every year, reducing demand for treated water and contributing to Singapore's broader water conservation and water resilience efforts. More than a water-saving project, it demonstrates how healthcare can challenge conventional practices and apply circular-economy principles to turn waste into resource, while delivering water, energy, carbon and financial benefits without compromising patient safety or operational reliability.

Through its "Redefining Healthcare: NUH's System-wide Shift to Low-Carbon, High-Value Care" project, the hospital has, since 2021, embedded sustainability across governance, clinical care and operations. A multidisciplinary team of clinicians, operations and sustainability professionals, supported by hospital leadership, has driven over 300 sustainability projects, integrating responsible resource use into everyday decision-making as an extension of quality patient care.

Initiatives include energy optimisation in operating theatres and hospital facilities, lower-emission anaesthetic practices, streamlined surgical instrument sets, radiology equipment refurbishment, digitalisation and efforts to reduce unnecessary testing while maintaining patient safety. Collectively, these measures have avoided over 6,680 tonnes of carbon emissions (tCO₂e), reduced annual energy consumption by about 4.4 million kWh, are projected to generate over S$1.2 million in annual energy savings, and have delivered approximately S$2.9 million in cost avoidance. They demonstrate how low-carbon, high-value care can advance both environmental and financial sustainability without compromising patient outcomes. Additionally, this transformation has delivered co-benefits including more efficient resource use, manpower and time savings, and improved staff wellbeing through streamlined workflows.

Chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes require ongoing management, yet healthcare delivery has traditionally been centred around periodic clinic visits, leaving limited visibility of patients' health and self-management behaviours between appointments. Awarded Excellence in the "Most Advanced Healthcare Technology" category, NUHS' Population-based CHronic diseAse Management Programme (CHAMP) addresses this gap by transforming chronic disease management from an episodic, clinic-centric model into a continuous, population-based approach. Through an AI-enabled WhatsApp chatbot, patients can conveniently submit health data such as blood pressure readings, receive reminders and personalised health nudges, and stay engaged in managing their conditions between clinic visits. Patient-generated data is seamlessly integrated into the electronic medical record system and Endeavour AI, NUHS' real-time analytics platform, providing care teams with timely insights to support proactive and informed interventions.

Implemented across polyclinics, specialist outpatient clinics and community care teams within NUHS, CHAMP has enrolled more than 44,800 patients as of July 2026 while maintaining a low dropout rate of about 1.8 per cent. Clinical outcomes have been encouraging, with the proportion of participants with poorly controlled blood pressure falling from 24.9 per cent at enrolment to 15 per cent after one year. Patient experience has also been positive, with more than 80 per cent reporting greater convenience, improved self-monitoring and increased awareness of their condition. By integrating patient-generated data with clinical workflows, CHAMP has also streamlined care processes and enabled healthcare teams to focus more on clinical decision-making and patient care.

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About the National University Health System (NUHS)

­­The National University Health System (NUHS) aims to transform how illness is prevented and managed by discovering causes of disease, development of more effective treatments through collaborative multidisciplinary research and clinical trials, and creation of better technologies and care delivery systems in partnership with others who share the same values and vision.

Institutions in the NUHS Group include the National University Hospital, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, Jurong Community Hospital, Alexandra Hospital and the upcoming Tengah General and Community Hospital; three National Specialty Centres – National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS), National University Heart Centre, Singapore (NUHCS) and National University Centre for Oral Health, Singapore (NUCOHS); the National University Polyclinics (NUP); Jurong Medical Centre; and three NUS health sciences schools – NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (including the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies), NUS Faculty of Dentistry and NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

With member institutions under a common governance structure, NUHS creates synergies for the advancement of health by integrating patient care, health science education and biomedical research. As a Regional Health System, NUHS works closely with health and social care partners across Singapore to develop and implement programmes that contribute to a healthy and engaged population in the Western part of Singapore.

For more information, please visit www.nuhs.edu.sg

SOURCE National University Health System (NUHS)