13th Nov 2020
Residents in the eastern part of Singapore will be served by a new integrated general and community hospital in Bedok North when it is ready around 2030. The new hospital will be located next to the Bedok North MRT station, bounded by Bedok Reservoir Road and Bedok North Road.
2. The location of the new hospital was announced by Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Health, at a visit to the Outram Community Hospital today. The Ministry of Health (MOH) first announced its plans to build the new integrated hospital in the eastern part of Singapore during the Committee of Supply debate in March 2020. Please refer to Annex A for the map.
3. The range of services provided at the general hospital will include emergency services, inpatient and specialist outpatient services that will cater to the needs of the community in the region. The community hospital will provide intermediate services such as rehabilitation and sub-acute care to support patients discharged from the general hospital.
4. The co-location of the general hospital and community hospital is part of our shift towards a more patient-centric, multidisciplinary approach to provide seamless care to patients. This is similar to other acute and community hospitals co-located at the same site, including Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Ren Ci Community Hospital, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH) and Jurong Community Hospital (JCH), as well as Singapore General Hospital and Outram Community Hospital.
5. The new general hospital will be operated by Singapore Health Services (SingHealth). MOH and SingHealth will engage the local community to co-create ideas on how the new hospital can better meet the needs of the community. More details will be shared when available.
6. Mr Gan said, “We anticipate that healthcare demand will continue to grow as a result of population growth and ageing. While we have increased the capacity of Changi General Hospital through expansions over the years, the upcoming new hospital in Bedok North will enable us to serve the healthcare needs of the community in the Eastern region of Singapore better. MOH will continue to invest in healthcare infrastructure and facilities to meet Singaporeans’ current and projected healthcare needs, and to enable the public to continue to conveniently access affordable and quality care.”
7. MOH has improved accessibility to healthcare services through the development of more general and community hospitals and national specialty centres across Singapore in the past few years, including NTFGH, JCH and Yishun Community Hospital in 2015, Sengkang General Hospital and Sengkang Community Hospital in 2018, and the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, the National University Centre for Oral Health and Outram Community Hospital in 2019. Together with the upcoming Woodlands Health Campus and the Tan Tock Seng Hospital Integrated Care Hub at Novena which are expected to open from 2023, the addition of the new integrated general and community hospital in Bedok North will bring the total number of public acute hospitals to 12 and the number of community hospitals to 12 by around 2030. We are also redeveloping Alexandra Hospital, and two national specialty centres – the new National Cancer Centre and the National Skin Centre.
8. MOH will call for tenders over the coming weeks to appoint project consultants to plan and design the new integrated hospital at Bedok North.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH
13 NOVEMBER 2020