It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the second edition of the Lean Healthcare Conference organized by the National Healthcare Group to be held at Orchard Hotel, 2 - 4 October 2008. Following the tremendous success of last year's conference, I would like to extend a warm invitation to you once again to participate in all the exciting sessions at this year's conference, and to learn from the Senseis of the lean healthcare movement.

The theme this year is "Safe and Lean" and the objective of this conference is to continually promote and permeate the culture of Lean principles and techniques behind the healthcare industry in Singapore through this conference platform.

At this conference, we will learn how lean management can result in safer healthcare delivery. We are very privileged to have Dr John Toussaint, President/CEO of ThedaCare Centre for Healthcare Value, USA, as our Keynote Speaker. He is a world-renowned exponent of lean thinking in healthcare, having achieved enviable success in leading ThedaCare to embrace "higher elements of a lean mindset".

There will also be other industry professionals and experienced practitioners from Singapore and the region such as Professor Stewart Dunn, Head of Department of Medical Psychology, University of Sydney Northern Medical School and Dr Apichati Sivayathorn, Chief Medical Officer, Bumrungrad International Hospital, Thailand.

One of this year's programme highlights is the Leadership Panel Discussion which will have prominent healthcare leaders sharing their views and what lean has in transforming Healthcare.

In conjunction with the Lean Healthcare Conference 2008, NHG will also be celebrating its 8th NHG Quality Week Launch on 3 October 2008 at the same venue. Over the years, many of you have implemented truly admirable efforts to improve patient safety and the quality of the service you provide. It is my pleasure to invite you to this event where we come together to listen and share our colleagues' innovations and journeys toward patient safety and lean management.

I look forward to welcoming you at the conference.

Yours sincerely,
Dr Chai Ping
Chairman, Organising Committee
Lean Healthcare Conference 2008
8th NHG Quality Week 2008