Opening Address at Hospital Management Asia 2006

29 Aug 2006

By Mr Heng Chee How, Minister of State for Health

Venue: Grand Corpthorne Waterfront Hotel

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

Introduction

I am delighted to join you at this opening of the fifth Hospital Management Asia (HMA) Conference. I understand that this is the first time Singapore is hosting the event. I thank the organizers for choosing Singapore and warmly welcome all participants and guests. I wish you a very enjoyable stay here.

I am told that there are close to 600 healthcare professionals in this year's conference. You have an exciting programme and the opportunity to share experiences with one another as well as to benefit from sessions with distinguished speakers in healthcare management from the Joint Commission, Johns Hopkins International, International Hospital Federation, World Health Organization Harvard, Cornell, INSEAD, the Asian Institute of Management and the University of Connecticut. In addition, my colleagues from the Singapore Health Ministry and hospitals would also be sharing with you our initiatives in improving management, safety, quality and efficiency of patient care in Singapore.

Challenges Hospital Managers Face in a Globalised Healthcare Environment

The healthcare environment is becoming more and more complex, competitive and globalised. In the face of such trends, traditional responses like having more sophisticated medical and IT infrastructure, and an every widening array of treatments are no longer adequate.

I believe that a key frontier that must be conquered next involves consolidating and releasing the power and value of the network of professions - doctors, clinician scientists, nurses, allied health, administrators and others - that together make up healthcare. Successfully done, the efficiency and efficacy gains would be very substantial, benefiting all stakeholders. The gains would be particularly significant when it mobilizes the passion and talent of those who work in healthcare.

To do so, ways must be found to enable each profession to be strong and excellent in its own right, and yet incentivise cross-profession or team-based collaboration that fully taps the synergies.

There is no shortage of examples from other sectors and industries, and I am sure there will be also be many illustrations from within healthcare management that you will learn about in this conference.

Hospitals in Singapore have also been active in refining their approaches and practices in this area to create value. Alexandra Hospital, one of the public hospitals, is one example. They have been working hard on adopting LEAN tools and techniques to optimize teamwork and the service chain, and have reaped the benefit of excellent patient satisfaction ratings in their journey.

Harnessing teamwork across the different professional groups - the Singapore experience

Earlier this year, ophthalmologists at the Singapore National Eye Centre observed abnormal fungal growth in a certain brand of multipurpose contact lens solution. They then worked with other relevant professionals to verify their findings, and alerted the Health Sciences Authority and the Ministry's epidemiologists of a strong link between a potentially blinding eye infection and the use of that type of lens solution. The findings eventually prompted a global recall of the product and thus helped save many people from suffering. This serves as another example of value creation through a systems or network approach.

Hospital Managers as "Connectors" - blending the art and science of management

A globalised setting also causes both patient and talent pools to become more mobile, diverse and international. To address this development, cross-cultural management, communication and coordinating abilities will be as important as the capacity to work and collaborate across professions, or to be good in any one profession. I hope that leadership in healthcare management would also point the way toward more learning, modeling and sharing of experiences in this area.

Conclusion

On this note, I wish you a most productive and fruitful conference.

Thank you.