Requirement for Occupational Therapists to Complete Return-to-work Competency Certification from Approved Institutes

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Manpower whether he can provide an update on the Ministry's collaboration with MOH to make it compulsory for private practice and hospitals' therapists to complete a Return-To-Work competency certification from an approved institute before being qualified to facilitate a worker's return to work, as is required in public hospitals.

There is no mandated requirement for occupational therapists to complete a return-to-work certification, whether in public or private healthcare institutions. Their professional standards are regulated by the Allied Health Professions Council, and they are trained to rehabilitate patients to return to everyday activities, including workers' return to work. Occupational therapists who take up return-to-work certification courses receive additional training, so that they can better facilitate workers' rehabilitation and return to the workplace through customised case management, which includes working with employers to redesign workers' job scopes and make workplace adjustments in line with workers' functional abilities.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) previously entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) with restructured hospitals to strengthen their capabilities in supporting injured workers' return to work. This included providing funding for the hospitals to introduce return-to-work certification courses for their occupational therapists. The MOUs concluded in 2022. Under the restructured hospitals' return-to-work programmes for workers with traumatic work injuries, 95% of all programme participants from 2017 to 2022 successfully returned to work. This was an improvement from the return-to-work rate of 75% prior to the introduction of the programmes. The hospitals continue to run the return-to-work programmes.