Opening Address by Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Health, at the Eastern Health Alliance Scientific Meeting 2015 Opening Ceremony, 6 November 2015

Mr Udairam, 
Colleagues, Friends,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning.

1. It gives me great pleasure to join you today at the 4th Eastern Health Alliance

Scientific Meeting. This year is also the year that we celebrate our 50th anniversary of nation building. Let me first thank all of you in the Alliance for the energy and efforts that each of you have given to help care for patients and their families, and for contributing to the development of our healthcare system.

Functional Optimisation, Independent Living

2. The conference theme, “Functional Optimisation, Independent Living”, is a timely and relevant response to the realities of our ageing population, and the need to help our patients to have a smooth recovery. The aim is to promote a good quality of life characterized by health, instead of simply adding on the length of years. Seniors have multiple needs, and research has shown that models based on singular care episodes cannot effectively support our seniors to age in place. Instead, we require a multi-modal approach that focuses on three key areas:

3. Firstly, people, and this refers to the patients and their families. The patient needs to be motivated, and his or her family needs to be supported and be actively engaged in the patient’s care. As healthcare providers, the challenge involves encouraging both patient and family to embrace active ageing principles, and for the family to facilitate and support the patient’s independent living as much as possible. Changi General Hospital (CGH) piloted the Interim Caregiver Service (ICS) in 2013 together with NTUC Health and Thye Hua Kwan to support families in caring for elderly patients as they transit home after their discharge from hospital. This has allowed seniors to recuperate in the comfort of their homes, and with the support of the family, instead of in the hospital.

4. Secondly, hospitals themselves. Hospitals should continue to apply innovative, evidence-based and patient-centered care. I am pleased to note that this morning’s keynote speaker, Professor Helen Hoenig, will be sharing on how assistive technologies and tele-rehabilitation can help to compensate for the physical limitations of our older patients, and how they can optimise patients’ functional status, and enable them to achieve independence, which is the ultimate goal of our healthcare. CGH’s Hip Fracture Valued Care program is also a good example of how the hospital is applying evidence-based approach in ensuring the hip fracture care of elderly patients is streamlined across care settings, from the acute hospital to the community hospital and eventually to rehabilitation in the community after discharge.

5. In addition, the EHA’s Health Management Unit (HMU) was set up as a form of telephonic support by telecare nurses and targets specific chronic disease education and care coordination, and is customized to the needs of each patient. HMU is delivered via a unique Patient Relationship Management (PRM) programme. We have seen a significant reduction of 0.5 bed days, and a drop in the number of patients reported having problems with anxiety or depression.

6. The third focus area is community. Community care, to provide good primary and transitional care support beyond the hospital, in the places where people live. Given that health and social needs are becoming more closely intertwined, our services will need to have a good blend to be effective and to be able to address both aspects. At the same time, we need to be careful not to over-medicalize care in the community setting. In this regard, the Eastern Health Alliance has pioneered a range of integrated health and social services, including the Neighbours for Active Living programme, the Eastern Community Health Outreach (ECHO) initiative, Community Health Centers (CHCs), and Chronic Disease Management Programme, just to name a few. These programmes help to care for patients who are discharged from the hospital and are back in the communities, with our primary care physician partners providing appropriate clinical support and guidance for the patients.

7. The Salvation Army Peacehaven Nursing Home's transitional convalescent facility, Grace Corner, provides structured lower-intensity rehabilitation programme for patients who require a longer recovery period, while their Multi-Service Centre in Bedok provides therapeutic and rehabilitation programmes to help the elderly age well in the community. Once a patient is discharged from the nursing home, the Home Care Services by St.Andrew’s Community Hospital will help support the patient back at his own home.

8. Also, I understand that EHA has more recently developed MyHealth Kiosk, Singapore’s first self-help kiosk for patients and residents to track their health in the community.

Conclusion

9. Looking ahead, I am encouraged that our partners of the Eastern Health Alliance are continuing this journey of learning, innovation and collaboration to serve the patients better. On this note, let me congratulate you on the progress made over the past year, and wish all of you a fruitful and enriching meeting. Thank you.