NTUC Health’s F4 programme from our Active Ageing Centres won “Innovation of the Year - Active Ageing Wellness Programme” at the 12th Asia Pacific Eldercare Innovation Awards 2024. In total, eleven projects emerged as finalists in the following categories.

Operator of the Year - Active Ageing
Operator of the Year - Residential Aged Care
Facility of the Year - Day Care Centre
Facility of the Year - Active Ageing (Centre-based)
Facility of the Year - Rehab, Health & Wellness
Innovation of the Year - Active Ageing Wellness Programme
Innovation of the Year - Intergenerational Social Engagement
Innovation of the Year - Productivity
Innovation of the Year - Smart Care Technology
Innovation of the Year - Technology Product by Operator

84 staff were recognised at the Singapore Health Quality Service Awards for their efforts, with our Centre Manager, Sandy Neo, clinching the Superstar Award for Exemplar Leader in Administration.

Oleander Lee, Nurse Manager for Home Care at NTUC Health, was one of 32 recipients in the community care sector awarded the Nurses’ Merit Award by the Ministry of Health (MOH) Singapore.

We introduced the CASHEW framework (Be Connected, Be Active, Be Sharp, Be Happy, Be Engaged, Be Well) to represent the different components of our Active Ageing programmes. The framework aims to encourage seniors to age well and we have since engaged close to 7,000 seniors in our Active Ageing programmes.

The Home Personal Care+ (HPC+) programme aims to help more seniors age in the comfort of their own homes with options for 24/7 Technology Monitoring and Response. We were appointed by the Ministry of Health to pilot HPC+ in collaboration with the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC). To offer more palliative care options for clients at home, we also partnered with Woodlands Health on the Integrated Home Health (IHH) programme.

Exciting new programmes such as coding and robotics, 3D printing, and steel combat, were rolled out, and we saw an increase in sign-ups, especially from male seniors.

Our service boundaries for case management has expanded beyond Bukit Merah and Jurong West. Together with other social and healthcare service partners, we now deliver holistic care for more than 300 seniors.

To better help patients who have undergone hip or knee replacement surgeries, NTUC Health’s home therapists and home nursing staff have been working with Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) on the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) programme.

Under the ERAS programme, selected patients are now able to return home from the hospital within a day or two after surgery, with support from our therapists and nurses, when in the past they would have had to be warded for a longer time.

NTUC Health won "Best Rehabilitation Programme" at the 11th Asia Pacific Eldercare Innovation Awards. Putting the fun in rehabilitation, Funabilitation involves music, group interaction, and activities as part of physiotherapy and occupational therapy.

Our drop-in flexible care programmes at Jurong Spring and Serangoon Central were extended to Heartbeat@Bedok. Fun with Friends, a programme supporting seniors with mild dementia and cognitive impairment, was also introduced at Day Centre for Seniors (Kampung Admiralty).

For the third consecutive year, NTUC Health was recognised as one of the "Best Companies to Work For in Asia" by HR Asia.

As part of our nursing homes’ Digital Residence initiative, we successfully integrated autonomous guided vehicles (AGV) across all six of our nursing homes, beginning with a pilot programme at Chai Chee. These AGVs, which carry up to 180kg of linen loads, streamline our operations and increase staff productivity by saving more than 4,000 staff hours annually.

This initiative has helped our staff dedicate more of their time, attention and care to seniors living in our homes.

With the opening of a new Nursing Home in Pasir Ris, NTUC Health now runs 6 Nursing Homes. We are the largest Nursing Home operator in Singapore, with a total capacity of 1,700 beds. 2 new Day Centres for Seniors, co-located in the Nursing Homes at Tampines and Pasir Ris also opened, bringing the total number of Day Centres for Seniors operated by NTUC Health to 26.

Those who needed additional caregiving support on Sundays could enrol in our new "Care on Sundays" programme. We also introduced short-term and temporary respite care services for clients at home, in our Nursing Homes and Day Centres for Seniors, giving clients flexible care options.

For the second year running, NTUC Health was recognised by HR Asia as one of the "Best Companies to Work For in Asia".

Virtual Reality (VR) experiences were introduced to our Home Care clients, allowing them the familiar sights and sounds, and to journey around the world right in the comfort of their own homes. Additionally, the Live Well Leave Well programme was piloted at our Nursing Homes to fulfil the final wishes of residents through the concerted efforts of doctors, nurses, medical social workers, therapists and activity coordinators.

Other activities created for our clients are implementation of mobile cooking stations, hair and manicure salon, and tele-screening.

NTUC Health is proud to receive a total of 14 awards, our highest ever at AIC’s Community Care Manpower Development Awards (CCMDA). The awards are given to persons looking to pursue a fulfilling career in the eldercare and community care sector.

148 staff were recognised at the Singapore Health Quality Service Awards for their efforts, and NTUC Health won 3 team merit awards for the management of COVID-19, "Joy-At-Work" and "Caregiver Transition".

NTUC Health embarked on a pilot Communities of Care project with the Agency for Integrated Care to serve seniors in the Taman Jurong and Henderson areas, including those from non-rental HDB blocks. More seniors will have their health and social care needs assessed by our staff, paving the way for the government’s new Eldercare Model where community care providers will take a population-based approach to caring for seniors in the community.

Our “Be Ageless” marketing campaign won at the 9th Asia Pacific Eldercare Innovation Awards, with our “Rock and Roll” programme at our Active Ageing Centres taking home a finalist title under the Best Active Ageing Programme (Community) as well.

To cater to the needs of Singapore's growing senior population, two new nursing homes in Jurong Spring and Tampines were opened. A new Day Centre for Seniors, co-located at Jurong Spring, was also established, bringing the total number of our Day Centres for Seniors to 24.

New fitness programmes such as Circuit Training and Functional Strength Training for seniors were extended to 7 locations, while 18 centres embarked on the new Ministry of Health model to support residents in their neighbourhoods with Active Ageing, Befriending, and Care services.

New ways of keeping our seniors socially active had to be implemented during the period of social distancing. By leveraging on technology, we introduced DayCare+, a virtual programme that seniors could take part in from the comfort and safety of their home. A mix of live sessions and pre-recorded videos, complemented with take-home kits and pre-packed materials for hands-on activities were provided for our seniors.

Virtual exercise sessions to keep seniors from our Day Centre for Seniors active also grew to an average of 1,000 participants per month.

As in-person visits were not possible during the pandemic, we introduced Google 360° virtual tours of our centres, allowing for caregivers and seniors to "visit" our centres. Technology solutions such as food delivery robots and Automated Guided Vehicles were also piloted in our centres, improving efficiency and allowing staff to spend more time caring for clients.

NTUC Health was named as one of the "Best Companies to Work For in Asia" by HR Asia. Winning companies for this award were selected based on the company's HR practices, high levels of employee engagement, and excellent workplace culture.

During the pandemic, ensuring the continuity of our services while safeguarding the safety of our seniors was of utmost importance. Throughout the circuit breaker period, clients were able to access essential health and community care services. Among the 7 whitelisted centres for seniors in Singapore, 3 were operated by NTUC Health. More than 300 clients received home personal care, home nursing, home medical, home therapy, and interim caregiver services as part of our efforts to continue delivering essential care services to our seniors during the circuit breaker. Our Nursing Home (Tampines) was also repurposed and refitted as a community treatment facility (CTF), with 250 beds meant for COVID-19 patients.

Through some 20,000 phone calls made by our staff, we kept in touch with seniors and caregivers during the circuit breaker to offer our support. Staff also helped residents at our Nursing Homes keep in contact with their loved ones through video calls when visits were suspended.

To keep seniors engaged during the lockdown, we organised more than 750 sessions of online activities, including sending out exercise videos produced by our physiotherapists and trainers to help them stay active at home.

Our Family Medicine Clinic were a part of the frontline fight against COVID-19 and registered as a Public Health Preparedness Clinic (PHPC). This allowed for patients to test for COVID-19 through swab tests at the clinic.

At the SingHealth Quality Service Award 2020, our Nursing Home and Allied Health colleagues received the Best Team Award (Clinical Practice Improvement) for the Return to Continence programme in addition to 4 individual Gold and 75 individual Silver awards - the highest number of awards won at this event to date.

Our staff were also recognised with 8 individual awards and the Clinical Quality Improvement Award for the Return to Continence programme at the Agency for Integrated Care Community Care Excellence Award 2020.

Starting from December 2019, NTUC Health merged its portfolio of service brands into a single ‘NTUC Health’ brand. This helps individuals and families access our comprehensive suite of elderly care and active ageing services more easily. We also refreshed our brand logo to take on a more modern and refreshing look and feel.

At the 7th Eldercare Innovation Awards 2019, NTUC Health’s Active Ageing Hub (Kampung Admiralty) clinched the awards for the ‘Best Active Ageing Programme – Community’; and NTUC Health Nursing Home was a Finalist for ‘Facility of the Year – Ageing in Place’.

NTUC Health continued to expand with six new Day Centres for Seniors in Boon Lay, Bukit Batok West, Henderson, Jurong Central Plaza, Radin Mas and Wisma Geylang Serai. Efforts were also invested into the design of the new centres and to refresh older centres such as Dakota. The new look and feel is designed to give our seniors a home-away-from-home experience as they socialise with each other, acquire new skills, and take part in recreational activities.

We also opened two new Senior Activity Centres for seniors staying in rental housing at Mount Faber and Boon Lay. NTUC Health also opened its doors to its second and third Active Ageing Hub at Jurong Central Plaza and Bukit Batok West to support seniors by keeping them active and mentally stimulated with our wide range of social activities, programmes and outings.

At the 6th Eldercare Innovation Awards 2018, NTUC Health Nursing Home won ‘Facility of the Year – Residential Aged Care’ and was a Finalist for Best Active Ageing Programme – Residential, and Best Rehabilitation Operator.

NTUC Health continued to support seniors and caregivers with the opening of three new Day Centres for Seniors in Bukit Merah (Silat), Heartbeat@Bedok and Kampung Admiralty. We also reached out to more vulnerable seniors through our Care Close to Home programme, where we expanded our service area from Henderson to 6 more rental blocks in Lengkok Bahru.

NTUC Health started its first Active Ageing Hub located in Kampung Admiralty, “Singapore’s first retirement village”. The Active Ageing Hub offers a wide range of services for seniors, including senior day care and day rehabilitation services, as well as community and volunteer activities.

We also piloted Tango, a programme targeted at seniors in the Braddell Heights area who want to stay active and engaged, through a suite of fitness, housekeeping and home care services, along with curated social activities which aim to build a sense of community.

NTUC First Campus’ My First Skool (MFS) and NTUC Health partnered to develop a three-tiered inter-generational model to bring young children and seniors together. The programme aims to empower seniors by giving them a stronger sense of purpose through mentoring the younger generation, and inculcate in pre-schoolers values of empathy, compassion and respect for the elders.

NTUC Health opened the very first therapeutic rooftop garden situated in a nursing home. The garden, based at NTUC Health Nursing Home (Jurong West), was designed in consultation with NParks and incorporates therapy-based principles to enable senior residents to interact with elements in nature. Through that, they can reminisce and socialise with peers, visitors, volunteers and staff, to improve their overall wellbeing. The garden received the NParks Skyrise Greenery Special Award and the Community in Bloom Gold Achievement Band Award.

At the 5th Eldercare Innovation Awards 2017, Silver Circle won the Best Day Care Programme award; Care@home was awarded Finalist for the Best Technology for Operational Efficiency.

In February 2017, NTUC Health opened its 13th Senior Care Centre in Ci Yuan Community Club at Hougang; an 800 square metres facility with a capacity to serve some 80 seniors.

In January and April 2017, NTUC Health opened the doors of its second and third nursing homes in Chai Chee and Geylang East respectively. NTUC Health’s three nursing homes including its first at Jurong West, have a combined total of close to 1,000 beds. Each nursing home has a Silver Circle Senior Care Centre housed within its premises; which can serve a total of close to 300 seniors. With the third nursing home up and running, NTUC Health is now one of the largest nursing home providers in Singapore.

At the 4th Eldercare Innovation Awards 2016, our Senior Activity Centre (Marsiling) clinched the Best Approach to Support Ageing-in-Place and Best Silver Architecture – Community Spaces, and was a Finalist for Best Wellness Programme – Community.

We embarked on the Care Close To Home programme, an initiative by Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) to help seniors in rental precincts age-in-place by providing them with social support. As a partner of this programme, we care for vulnerable seniors living in three rental blocks in the Henderson area.

On 14 July 2014, NTUC Health opened its first Senior Care Centre, a one-stop integrated day care facility for the elderly which also offers community nursing, active rehabilitation and dementia management services at Serangoon Central. The Centre is also among the first to roll out the Centre-Based Weekend Respite Care programme to support caregivers who need to take time off from looking after their elderly loved ones during weekends for urgent work commitments, to run errands or simply for a short break.

We worked with the government to pilot the Interim Caregiver Service, where hospitalised seniors who are ready to be discharged but are awaiting long-term caregiving arrangements such as foreign domestic helpers, can return home and be cared for by our nurses. We are one of two providers in Singapore currently offering the service.

Unity Family Medicine Clinic was opened in May 2014 in collaboration with the National Healthcare Group (NHG), to provide one-stop, affordable healthcare for residents in the Serangoon New Town and Braddell Heights housing estates. This clinic will provide continuing care in the community, giving patients more options especially for chronic diseases.

A major milestone was achieved in July 2014 with the integration of NTUC Eldercare and NTUC Unity Healthcare into a single entity – NTUC Health
Co-operative Ltd. NTUC Health builds on the expertise and experience of the two co-operatives to do more for working families, particularly against the backdrop of an ageing population.

Funded by the Ministry of Health, we began the Place and Train pilot programme in June 2013 to re-design the job function of care officers; from one full-time senior care assistant into three distinct job roles which can be taken up by part-time workers. The training curriculum was re-designed into bite-sized modules to allow back-to-work mums, those looking for a career switch, or early retirees to jumpstart into their part-time roles while supporting the manpower needs of the eldercare industry.

NTUC Healthcare introduced case management services to vulnerable seniors through a team of trained social workers to provide Cluster Support. We were appointed in 2012 by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) to operate Senior Cluster Networks (SCN); and now run two Cluster Support teams at Bukit Merah and Taman Jurong. Our Cluster Support teams conduct regular visits to vulnerable seniors with little or no family support, and connect them with relevant community partners for social or financial assistance when needed.

NTUC Healthcare Co-operative Limited was renamed NTUC Unity Healthcare Co-operative Limited. NTUC Denticare was now Unity Denticare.

We opened our first Senior Activity Centre in Redhill. The centres are drop-in locations for vulnerable seniors with weak family support in designated lower-income neighbourhoods where they can take part in social activities and remain engaged with the community. They also double up as support centres where seniors can turn to for help in times of emergency.

We took over the management of Henderson Senior Citizens’ Home, the May Wong Lifestyle Centre and the May Wong Social Centre from the Chinese Women’s Association.

The “Together We Care” caregivers training programme was launched to equip caregivers with better basic knowledge and skills to care for the elderly.

We introduced home nursing services to provide basic clinical care, such as injection and wound cleaning.

We launched the Care@home service as a pilot project with government to provide eldercare services to the frail elderly who are home-bound and require care while their children are away at work.

Two Unity Pharmacy outlets, located in Great World City and Ang Mo Kio, were awarded the Pro-Family Business Mark for their family-friendly service and facilities.

NTUC Eldercare set up its first social day care centre at Marsiling on 4 January 1999. The aim of the day care centre was to provide support to working families by giving them peace of mind that their elderly loved ones were being cared for by trained professionals while they were at work. The centre aimed to engage the elderly in social interactive activities, such as regular exercises, interesting games and festive celebrations, while their family members were at work in the day.

In 1997, NTUC recognised the need to provide quality and affordable eldercare services for middle income families and set up NTUC Eldercare Co-operative Limited. Back then, the Labour Movement anticipated the challenges of an ageing population, and with declining birth rates, the support working families would need to care for their elderly parents.

In the early 1990s, NTUC recognised the concerns of the public over rising healthcare costs and saw the need for a co-operative to help moderate prices of healthcare essentials. The Labour Movement set up NTUC Healthcare and opened its first pharmacy retail outlet in NTUC FairPrice Clementi. By 1996, NTUC Healthcare had 18 pharmacy outlets, and unveiled a new brand identity – 'Unity'.

As a follow-up to the Modernisation Seminar in 1969, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) began forming cooperatives in the 1970s. One of the first NTUC co-operatives to be established was NTUC Denticare. It was set up to provide quality and affordable dental services to workers. The first dental clinic was opened in Corporation Drive in May 1972. Today, it is known as NTUC Health Denticare.