Debated in Parliament on 4 Apr 2017.
Ms K Thanaletchimi asked the Minister for Health how pervasive is the Adapt and Grow initiative, which helps workers to upgrade skills and adapt to changing job demands, in the healthcare sector.
Madam, in 2016, MOM implemented the Adapt and Grow initiative to support workers, especially mid-career Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs), in finding jobs.
Some 300 jobseekers were placed into the healthcare sector through this initiative last year. Complementing this, the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) has also been organising recruitment fairs, through which about 400 mid-career locals were hired in 2016.
MOH will enhance the Professional Conversion Programme (PCP) to recruit more mid-career Singaporeans as nurses. We will increase funding support for employers of mid-career nurses for their professional conversion training and on-the-job training. In addition, we will offer overseas nursing Masters scholarships starting from 2017 for non-nursing degree graduates to pursue nursing studies.
Healthcare employers can tap on Workforce Singapore (WSG)'s PCP for Professional Executives to recruit mid-career administrators. In addition, those with managerial experience and are planning to switch to the community care sector can be placed on the Senior Management Associate Scheme (SMAS) and undergo training provided by AIC and the employers. MOH will also enhance its place-and-train programmes to recruit mid-career individuals into support care staff positions. On-the-job training funding support will be provided to public healthcare and community care employers for every newly hired support care workers.
We will continue to work closely with our partners, such as MOM, WSG, Employment and Employability Institute (e2i), healthcare employers and the unions, to reach out to mid-career job seekers and facilitate their shift to the healthcare sector?
Madam, I would like to seek a clarification on the Attach and Train programme, the new initiative that was announced by MOM. Could the Minister enlighten if this Attach and Train programme can be more pervasive, now that it is being introduced across all institutions in healthcare, including the ILTC sector.
Madam, certainly, MOH will be very keen to work with the unions and healthcare employers to see how we can expand this programme to reach out to more healthcare professionals to encourage them to upgrade themselves, as well as for those from outside the healthcare sector to enter the healthcare sector to serve our patients.
PAPERCUTS