SGH hosted its first combined Citizen Developer Showcase on 30 July 2025, uniting Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Generative AI (GenAI) citizen developers to share their innovations and experiences. This marks a natural evolution in our digital transformation journey, where these complementary technologies are increasingly working together to enhance healthcare operations.

A New Chapter in Digital Innovation

"When we first started the citizen developer programme, our vision was to empower our non-technical staff to solve their own operational challenges. Today, that vision has evolved into something even more exciting: the convergence of RPA and Generative AI capabilities, creating possibilities we couldn't have imagined before," shared Chia Kuok Wei, who oversees the AI & Automation unit in the Department of Future Health System.

SGH's Citizen Developers range from administrative staff to nurses and allied health professionals. They are key to driving and sustaining digital transformation in SGH, combining their deep understanding of work processes with user-friendly development tools to create IT solutions without traditional programming expertise.

Six Years of RPA: Growing from Strength to Strength

What started as a small initiative has blossomed into something remarkable over six years. The RPA team's video Passion Project for 2025 shows how RPA has grown from simple process improvements to become a key part of daily operations.

Click here to watch the Passion Project or scan the QR code

Presenting the year in review, AIA Senior Manager Chan Wai Ching highlighted that citizen developers led and implemented 66% of all RPA projects in FY24, saving over 12,000 hours of manual work. "These are people who have day jobs – but yet volunteered to learn a new skill and make a difference for their teams. In my opinion, these are the best people SGH can ever have," she remarked. 

Teams across SGH have embraced automation in creative ways. The Urology team developed a patient monitoring bot while the Staff Clinic transformed its appointment system, showing how RPA can do much more than just backend tasks. The success has spread beyond our walls, with citizen developer Jonathan Lim from Physiotherapy helping SingHealth Polyclinics adopt similar automated solutions.

Looking ahead, exciting developments are in store as the RPA team adds GenAI tools to their training program. The community can also look forward to UiPath Orchestrator, which will open up new possibilities for automation across the hospital.

GenAI: The New Frontier

 2024 brought exciting changes as SGH welcomed GenAI tools like Pair and Note Buddy. AIA Assistant Director Jonathan Tan Jonathan Tan walked the audience through how teams have created custom assistants to tackle various challenges - from sharing consistent information across departments to converting complex clinical data into useful formats.

As Pair grows with regular updates from the OGP team, its impact is becoming clear. "Impact comes when the whole department changes its workflow, not just an individual improving their productivity," Jonathan explained. He outlined plans for proper governance of clinical Pair bots, emphasizing the importance of thorough testing and evaluation. Teams were also encouraged to measure their success through Quality Improvement projects.

While fully autonomous AI agents are still on the horizon, Jonathan showed how combining RPA with GenAI already allows us to handle more complex tasks and unstructured data.

Ph.O.E.B.E, developed by Jian Cheng and his pharmacy team, won the Most Sustained Use Award

The showcase celebrated success stories too. Ph.O.E.B.E, developed by Lye Jian Cheng and his pharmacy team won the "Most Sustained Use Award" for maintaining the highest adoption rate among SGH's Pair-a-thon projects over four months. Ph.O.E.B.E can answer questions about workflows related to Inpatient Pharmacy. These include workflows pertaining to discharge pharmacy operations, controlled drugs and supply of medications to wards. This helpful assistant for inpatient pharmacists shows how GenAI is becoming an everyday part of hospital operations.

Innovation in Action: RPA Meets GenAI

Taking the convergence of technologies further, Jonathan Lim (yes, it's the third Jonathan in this article 😅) from the National Dental Centre Singapore (NDCS) showed how RPA and GenAI work together to improve billing processes.

"Know your RPA boundaries, but don't let them hold you back," Jonathan shared, explaining how adding GenAI helped overcome traditional automation limits. He kept things simple yet effective, reminding everyone that complex problems do not always need complex solutions. His approach to improvement was equally practical: start small, learn from each attempt, and keep refining the solution.

Exhibition Highlights

These principles came to life in the showcase exhibition, which spotlighted five outstanding projects that are making a real difference in daily operations. Three RPA innovations caught everyone's attention: Adam Tan from Audiology presented "Hear and Now," a smart subsidy checker; Adeline Sng from Pathology demonstrated "Lab-racadabra," which automatically downloads logs from Laboratory Information System and converts them into PDFs; and Lui Quan from Radiography showed off "X-ray Vision," an efficient tool that helps the team with audits. Click here to view their posters

"RPA is a must-have tool for boosting productivity and unlocking opportunities," Adam shared, showing how his bot has transformed workflow in the Audiology department.

The GenAI projects were equally impressive. The Nursing Team presented two practical solutions: a Promotion Report Booster and an AI Chatbot for MOH Licensing Readiness. Tessa Teo from Office of Value Based Healthcare introduced VDCompass, an AI assistant that supports value-driven care research.

Senior Nurse Manager Teo Kai Yunn's experience captured the real impact of these tools: "Nurses can now get instant, accurate guidance on complex protocols related to the Healthcare Services Act. This is especially helpful for new staff and during the MOH licensing period."

Charting the Future Together

Kuok Wei captured the spirit of the event perfectly: “As you explore the exhibitions today and learn from each other's projects, I encourage you to think about the possibilities of how you can transform your workflows with the combination of RPA and Generative AI tools. Let's continue to push the boundaries of what's possible in healthcare innovation.”

The event wrapped up with a unique touch - a photo booth powered by both RPA and GenAI, giving everyone a hands-on experience of how these technologies can work together. It was a fitting end to a day that showed how far we've come and hinted at the exciting possibilities ahead.

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