The experience of the GPFirst programme

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Dr Tan Wu Meng
MP for Jurong GRC

Question No. 208

To ask the Minister for Health (a) what has been the experience of the GPFirst programme launched by Changi General Hospital; and (b) whether the Ministry has plans to extend the programme to other public hospitals and their respective nearby general practitioners in the community. 

Answer

1               The GPFirst Programme was piloted at Changi General Hospital (CGH) in January 2014. It aims to encourage patients with non-emergency conditions to seek treatment at General Practitioners (GPs) rather than at Emergency Departments (EDs).  This enables the EDs to focus on attending to patients with life threatening and critical conditions.  Patients assessed by the participating GPs as requiring emergency care would be referred on and given priority to be seen earlier at the ED.  These patients will be given a $50 subsidy on their ED bill to help offset the cost of the GP visit.

2               From 2014 to 2017, there was a reduction of about 8.5% in the self-referred attendances at CGH ED, which may be attributed to GPFirst and other measures implemented during this time.

3               MOH has expanded GPFirst beyond CGH’s region in phases. As of Sep 2020, GPFirst has been expanded to involve more GPs around Khoo Teck Puat Hospital  and the Urgent Care Centre @Admiralty Medical Centre, and will be progressively implemented in the regions surrounding Sengkang General Hospital, National University Hospital and Ng Teng Fong General Hospital by the end of 2021