Group Chief Nurse

Chief Nurse Khoo Teck Puat Hospital & Yishun Community Hospital

Ms Shirley Heng began her nursing journey in Singapore General Hospital, where she honed advanced clinical skills in high-dependency and general ward settings and won early recognition including the Best Clinical Nurse Award and Service with a Heart Award. She was Assistant Chief Nursing Officer with MOH from 2011 to 2013, where she played a pivotal role in policy review and formulation which shaped and guided reforms in national nursing policies, workforce strategies, education development and ensuring alignment between acute and intermediate long term care sectors. She contributed to national initiatives such as the National Nursing Taskforce and the Future Nursing Career Review Committee which focused on elevating nursing leadership, capability building, and professional branding.

Appointed Chief Nurse of KTPH & YCH in 2019, Shirley has been instrumental in driving nursing excellence and integration across acute and community care. She provided strategic leadership and oversight for inpatient and outpatient services, nursing education, infection control, and informatics, ensuring a cohesive and patient-centred care continuum for the hospital. She spearheaded workforce transformation initiatives including job redesign, harmonised career progression pathways, competency framework reviews, and roster re-engineering to strengthen workforce agility and flexible work arrangements and led the implementation of the SMART Ward initiative to optimise clinical workflow and digital adoption, enhancing care efficiency and patient experience.

In her concurrent appointment as Group Chief Nurse of NHG Health, she will focus on workforce transformation efforts through strengthening of multidisciplinary collaboration, care innovation and expanding the use of technology, aligning with cluster's mandate to deliver seamless, person-centred care. Shirley will continue to enhance professional development of nurses and advancing nursing through cross disciplinary partnerships.