OPENING ADDRESS BY MR GAN KIM YONG, MINISTER FOR HEALTH, AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING CEREMONY FOR CHANGI GENERAL HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTRE AND INTEGRATED MULTI-DISCIPLINARY CARE CONFERENCE, 2 NOVEMBER 2018

Prof Ivy Ng, Group CEO, SingHealth

Adj Prof Lee Chien Earn, CEO, Changi General Hospital

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and gentlemen

          Good morning. It is indeed my great pleasure to join you today at the official opening of the Changi General Hospital Medical Centre, and to open the Integrated Multi-Disciplinary Care Conference.

2.        Four years ago, I was at the “groundbuilding” ceremony of this new CGH Medical Centre.It gives me great pleasure today to see that this facility is now completed and has been serving the patients and the community in the East since April this year.

3.        Today also marks the first day of the Integrated Multi-Disciplinary Care Conference organised by CGH. This conference is an excellent opportunity to bring together like-minded individuals, to share ideas on how to deliver care more seamlessly and in a more integrated manner.

How CGH Medical Centre supports Integrated Care

4.        Changi General Hospital itself has been serving patients since 1996.Over the years, it has seen its patient load grow significantly as the population in the east expanded and aged.Hence, in 2012, MOH embarked upon a major expansion programme for CGH.The first milestone was the opening of the CGH-SACH Integrated Building that started operations in 2014, adding inpatient beds and expanding rehab facilities for both CGH and Saint Andrew’s Community Hospital.Now, the new CGH Medical Centre will add significant capacity for specialty care, with its nearly 190 rooms for consultation, treatment and procedures.

5.        When CGH designed the new Medical Centre, it also took the opportunity to remodel its services and processes, with the objective of providing more accessible and streamlined care for patients.This is especially important for our older patients who often have multiple medical conditions and need to consult different speciality doctors. Hence, a key feature of the Medical Centre is the organisation of doctors into Multi-Specialty Practices (MSPs). MSPs are functional teams that cut across healthcare specialties and disciplines, to focus on particular complex disease conditions. They utilise unified care protocols, with patients triaged into the most appropriate care pathway which meets their needs. The Medical Centre is specifically designed to optimise the work of the MSPs, with joint clinics that facilitate collaboration between different specialties and healthcare professionals serving each patient.

6.        For example, CGH’s gastrointestinal surgeons and gastroenterologists are housed together in the Digestive Diseases Centre. The Integrated Sleep Service also co-locates its Respiratory Medicine, ENT, and Sleep Psychological Medicine teams within the same area. Patients with particular complex conditions will be able to receive same-day referrals to more than one specialist if necessary. Through these efforts, the MSPs help patients make fewer trips to the hospital while benefitting from more timely, consolidated diagnosis and treatment.

Bringing Integrated Multi-Disciplinary Care closer to the community

7.        I am glad to note that CGH has also become an innovator in integrating care provision beyond the hospital walls.CGH has worked with other care providers and community partners to bring integrated multi-disciplinary care closer to the community.

8.        For example, CGH initiated the Eastern Community Health Outreach, or ‘ECHO’ community programme.Through ECHO’s screening efforts, patients diagnosed with diabetes may visit the primary care providers for follow up without coming to the hospital. Patients with more complex needs could be referred by their primary care doctor to the CGH Diabetes, Obesity, Metabolic and Endocrine (DOME) Centre right here in the medical centre. The DOME Centre provides a comprehensive range of services, including diabetic eye check-ups, diabetic foot screening, and nurse counselling.

9.        Another example is the Hospital-to-Home programme (H2H), which has enrolled more than 20,000 patients across all Clusters since its inception in April 2017. The H2H team, which comprises doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, works with volunteers from the Neighbours for Active Living programme, to support patients’ safe and timely transit from hospital to home. Subsequently, once the patient has stabilised, the team will arrange for the patient to continue receiving care from community partners or primary care providers as needed.

10.       Let me share the example of Mr Tan Kia Chiew, an elderly patient referred to the H2H programme for help with medication compliance. Mr Tan is a smoker grappling with lung disease and multiple hospital admissions. Depressed by his medical condition and financial difficulties, Mr Tan had actually hoped for his condition to worsen so that he could be re-admitted to hospital where there is at least someone to care for him.

11.       Through the H2H programme, the community nurse and doctor actively supported Mr Tan through phone calls and home visits. This helped build a trusting relationship and motivated him to better manage his medical condition. Mr Tan is now compliant with his medications, and actively cutting down on smoking.

12.       But there is more. Mr Tan was so grateful for the support rendered to him, that he volunteered to be a befriender with the Southeast Community Development Council’s ‘Friend A Senior’ programme, a befriending service targeted at seniors with high care needs. I am encouraged that programmes such as H2H are helping patients to improve their health and participate more actively in their communities.

Enhancing accessibility

13.       As we continue our efforts to integrate care services, and move care beyond the hospital to the community, our primary care sector becomes even more important.As part of MOH’s Beyond Healthcare 2020 initiatives, we have been strengthening primary care capacity through partnerships with the community and the development of primary care facilities in areas where we see growing needs.

14.       Here in the eastern part of Singapore, we will be redeveloping the existing Pasir Ris Polyclinic. In the third quarter of 2018, the current Pasir Ris Polyclinic saw an average of 856 patients per day[1] and this number is likely to increase over time, given our ageing population.MOH has therefore decided to rebuild and expand Pasir Ris polyclinic.The redeveloped polyclinic will be located at the new Pasir Ris Integrated Transport Hub (ITH) within Pasir Ris central, just next to the MRT station, and will be co-located with a bus interchange to provide greater convenience and accessibility for Pasir Ris residents. It will provide key primary care services, such as acute care treatment, chronic disease management, and women’s and children’s health services. The redeveloped polyclinic will also be designed to be more user-friendly for the elderly, and those with mobility issues requiring barrier-free access.

Closing

15.       As Singapore continues on our journey towards a patient-centric and seamless integration of care services, we hope that the close partnership of our primary care providers, hospitals, and specialist outpatient centres like the CGH Medical Centre, will continue to grow and strengthen. Together, we can continue to deliver accessible, quality and affordable healthcare to all Singaporeans.

16.       In closing, I would like to congratulate CGH on the official opening of the CGH Medical Centre today. I wish all participants a fruitful conference over the next few days.May you be inspired with new ideas to further integrate care for our patients.Thank you.

[1] The average daily polyclinic attendance is calculated based on 68.5 working days in Q3 2018 (Jul: 24, Aug: 22, Sep: 22.5). Polyclinics operate from Mon to Fri, and Saturday (half day).  They do not operate on Sundays and public holidays.