JurongHealth Campus Champions Simplification at NUHS GROSS Appreciation Event
The NUHS Get Rid of Stupid Stuff (GROSS) initiative marked its third anniversary and celebrated its fourth appreciation event on 14 October 2025 — a testament to the growing movement of doing better by doing simpler.
Since its launch in 2023, GROSS has received 889 submissions across NUHS institutions and successfully eliminated 490 unnecessary processes as of September 2025. These milestones reflect a deepening culture of innovation, simplification and shared ownership across the cluster.
GROSS is more than a campaign — it is a mindset. It encourages teams to first eliminate unnecessary work, then simplify complex processes, and finally automate repetitive tasks through technology. Once proven, these improvements are scaled to benefit other teams and institutions, amplifying impact across NUHS.
This year’s event shone a spotlight on how JurongHealth Campus (JHC) — comprising Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH) and Jurong Community Hospital (JCH) — has embraced simplification as part of its DNA, turning challenges into smarter, faster, and kinder ways of working.
Transforming Care Through Collaboration
JHC was part of the cluster-wide team that clinched the $10,000 NUHS GROSS Recognition Award for a project that made healthcare access more seamless for staff.
Through this initiative, eligible staff who visit staff clinics and require subsidised specialist care can now be referred directly for teleconsultations with NUP doctors — no extra trip to the polyclinic needed. This streamlined process enhances convenience for staff while reducing patient load at polyclinics — a win for both experience and efficiency.
Though absent, NTFGH Health & Wellness team shares the honour of receiving the award with staff representing teams from across NUHS, including NUH, AH and NUP.
Driving Seamless Care and Automation
NTFGH teams also earned two $5,000 NUHS GROSS Recognition Awards, showcasing how simplification and automation drive meaningful results.
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(GROSS #128) Bridging JCH and NTFGH with Seamless Surgical Care
Introduced a Leave of Absence (LOA) Order to simplify patient transfers for day surgery. By reconfiguring system workflows, the team eliminated redundant discharge and re-admission paperwork — achieving a 70% improvement in processing time and saving over 800 hours annually. -
(GROSS #351) Automating Audits with RUSSELL-GPT
The NTFGH Emergency Department (ED) harnessed AI technology to automate audits of medical officers’ notes. This reduced administrative workload and freed up clinicians to focus on care. The success has since been scaled cluster-wide to NUH and AH — proving how one innovation can transform practice across institutions.
(Left to right) Prof Yeoh Khay Guan, Chief Executive, NUHS presenting the award to the project team representatives including Devi Muruganandam, Nurse Clinician, JCH, Adj Asst Prof Kelvin Koh, Medical Director, JCH and Chew Zheng Hao, Senior Medical Informatics Specialist, NUHS.
(Left to right) Prof Yeoh with Ng Sow Chun, Chief Nurse, NTFGH & JCH and Ng Bee Ling, Chief Operating Officer, NTFGH & JCH who received the award on behalf of the team behind project (NUHS GROSS #351).
Efficiency Gains That Matter
JurongHealth Campus teams also earned $1,000 NUHS GROSS Recognition Awards for initiatives that delivered measurable impact:
(NUHS GROSS #705) Reducing Specimen Rejections: By addressing the top four preventable causes of specimen rejection across NTFGH Specialist Outpatient Clinics (SOCs), the team saved 936 nursing hours annually and reduced costs by $40,655.
(Left to right) Prof Yeoh presenting the award to Geng Haiyu, Senior Staff Nurse, NTFGH and Nancy Yeo, Assistant Director of Nursing, NTFGH, representatives of the team for project (NUHS GROSS #705).
(NUHS GROSS #710) Streamlining Type & Screen Workflow:
A collaboration between General Surgery, Orthopaedic Surgery and Urology removed unnecessary blood standby requests for elective surgeries — cutting 36.7% of redundant orders and saving nearly 5,000 minutes each year.
(Left to right) Prof Yeoh presenting the award to Meng Zhiyan, Nurse Clinician, NTFGH, Dr Cheng Yiling, Senior Consultant, NTFGH and Wang Lili, Senior Nurse Manager, NTFGH, representatives of the team for project (NUHS GROSS #710).
(NUHS GROSS #764) Revising Nursing Documentation and Care Plans:
The Nursing Administration team redesigned documentation templates and reduced care plan frequency, eliminating duplication and improving consistency. The impact was staggering—5,745 hours saved monthly across 31 JHC wards, freeing up nurses to focus on direct patient care.
(Left to right) Prof Yeoh presenting the award to Valayapatti Krishnan Rajeswari, Assistant Nurse Clinician, NTFGH, Subashini Angusamy, Nurse Clinician, NTFGH (Project Lead), Salina Mohamed Nasir, Assistant Nurse Clinician, NTFGH and Low Ting Jun, Nurse Clinician, NTFGH, representatives of the team for the project (NUHS GROSS #764).
Commendation Awards: A Testament to Teamwork
JurongHealth Campus teams also received 23 commendation awards for projects that spanned digitalisation, workflow optimisation, and resource efficiency. These include:
Eliminate Strategy
1.(NUHS GROSS #598) Streamlined critical result notifications in JHC
2.(NUHS GROSS #718) Preventing wastage of consumables by reducing time spent counting expired items in procedure boxes
3.(NUHS GROSS #752) Reducing return of milk feeds from inpatient wards to pharmacy
Simplify Strategy
4.(NUHS GROSS #327) Consolidation of digitalised ward manuals in JHC intranet
5.(NUHS GROSS #375) Enhanced Permit to Work (PTW) clearance process
6.(NUHS GROSS #542) Streamlined Member of Parliament (MP) letter process
7.(NUHS GROSS #621) Streamlining colonoscopy preparation through video education
8.(NUHS GROSS #704) Optimised inpatient bowel preparation workflow
9.(NUHS GROSS #707) Nurse-led vital signs monitoring reduction protocol
10.(NUHS GROSS #712) Streamlined access to key press in Cardiovascular Lab (CVL)
11.(NUHS GROSS #713) Streamlined Cardiovascular Lab (CVL) activation process
12.(NUHS GROSS #714) Dual antiplatelet therapy traffic light: streamlined antiplatelet communication
13.(NUHS GROSS #778) Transitioning ward scanning from daily to post-discharge
Automate Strategy
14.(NUHS GROSS #402) Streamlined endoscopy pre-procedure calls with auto SMS reminders and app integration
15.(NUHS GROSS #555) Digitalised inpatient hemodialysis schedule list
16.(NUHS GROSS #583) Delivery Order (DO) workflow improvement
17.(NUHS GROSS #685) Electronic logbook for ward scanning
18.(NUHS GROSS #689) Digitalised guides previously on resuscitation trolley
19.(NUHS GROSS #711) Introducing digitalised respiratory therapy competency and work instruction
20.(NUHS GROSS #749) Digitised hardcopy nursing skills competency checklist
21.(NUHS GROSS #757) Digitalised pre-operative scheduling preparation for eye surgery in clinic and Operating Theatre (OT)
22.(NUHS GROSS #765) Code Renew: Emergency Department (ED) staff leave breakthrough
23.(NUHS GROSS #779) Digitalisation of Needle Stick Injury (NSI) and exposure to body fluid hardcopy attendance tracking form
Each of these projects reflects the creativity and commitment of our teams to make work simpler, smarter, and more sustainable.
(For more information on GROSS projects, you may visit the NUHS Intranet portal>Useful Links>G.R.O.S.S.)
Beaming with pride — our NTFGH project teams with their Commendation Award, a testament to dedication and teamwork.
Celebrating a Culture of Simplification
The G.R.O.S.S. Appreciation and Carnival was more than an awards ceremony—it was a celebration of creativity, collaboration, and the courage to challenge the status quo. Because of you, our JurongHealth Campus teams continue to show that simplification isn’t just about efficiency — it is about making work purposeful, care seamless, and innovation sustainable.
By eliminating redundant tasks, streamlining workflows, and scaling smart ideas, our teams are making care kinder, nimbler, smarter and safer — for patients, colleagues and the community.
As NUHS continues to build on this cluster-wide movement, JurongHealth Campus stands proud as a key driver of simplification — proving that when we simplify, we amplify impact.