Speech by Health Minister Gan Kim Yong at the opening ceremony of the Singapore Healthcare Management Congress 2013 on 19 Aug 2013

Speech by Health Minister Gan Kim Yong at the opening ceremony of the Singapore Healthcare Management Congress 2013 on 19 Aug 2013

Mr Peter Seah, Chairman of SingHealth,

Professor Ivy Ng, Group CEO of SingHealth,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen

1.       It is my great pleasure to join you this morning at the opening ceremony of Singapore Healthcare Management 2013.

2.       I am heartened to see many local and overseas healthcare leaders and administrators coming together at this event to exchange ideas, share best practices and explore care innovations in healthcare. I hope that we will be able to use our collective wisdom to address common challenges faced in the region and to raise the standards of healthcare systems and delivery.

Developing capability in healthcare leaders and administrators
3.       Even as we step up investments in infrastructure and manpower development to meet the growing healthcare needs of an ageing population, rising non-communicable diseases and the constant threat of global pandemics, we will also need to constantly innovate and find new ways to keep our population healthy and deliver our healthcare services more effectively. To do so, we will need to develop strong management capability and leadership quality in the healthcare sector that will lead the transformation.

4.       Administrators play an important and integral role in healthcare delivery as they work closely with clinical teams to deliver the best possible outcomes for patients. Many of these administrators may not interact with patients directly on a day-to-day basis and they may be less visible, but the complex work that they undertake can affect patient care and experience, as well as the reputation of the healthcare organisation. Healthcare administrators need to constantly seek new and cost-effective solutions to overcome operational challenges, such as optimal allocation and utilisation of resources, development of procurement processes to contain rising costs and keep healthcare affordable, as well as integration of technology to enhance efficiency and quality of care, all for the benefit of the patients.

5.       Increasingly, healthcare organisations are recognising the need to set aside more resources to nurture a strong pipeline of healthcare administrators and invest in the capability development of healthcare administrators and leaders. The Singapore-Industry Scholarship (SgIS) offered by public healthcare clusters in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education is an example of this. The scholarship aims to identify and develop future leaders in healthcare sector. Scholarship holders can look forward to opportunities to be exposed to different areas of healthcare administration such as hospital operations, finance and human resource. A total of 41 SgIS healthcare scholarships has been offered to-date.

6.       In addition to the SgIS scholarships, there are also capability development schemes, such as the Healthcare Manpower Development Plan and other in-service programmes by the healthcare clusters, to train administrators who wish to advance their administrative and managerial skills, as well as medical practitioners who wish to pursue careers in administration. Through training and development, healthcare administrators will be able to stay relevant as they acquire new competencies, sharpen skills and knowledge, and gain new perspectives on healthcare management.

7.       Launched in 2009, the Singapore Management University – SingHealth Graduate Diploma in Healthcare Management and Leadership aims to groom a new breed of healthcare professionals who excel in both healthcare management and business leadership – a skill that is in increasing demand in today’s evolving healthcare landscape. The curriculum is co-developed and taught jointly by senior clinicians and leaders from SingHealth and senior SMU faculty. Medical practitioners who have undergone the programme will acquire the necessary knowledge to devise healthcare management strategies to achieve patient satisfaction and excellence in people, quality and financial management.

8.       With a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape and rising patient expectations, Singapore also needs grow a strong core of home-grown healthcare leaders who are committed and passionate to develop Singapore’s healthcare system, and as a thought leader in healthcare solutions, innovative treatments and technologies. With the support from public healthcare clusters, we set up the Healthcare Leadership College (HLC) in 2011, which focuses on leadership development programmes for the public healthcare sector at large to strengthen the policy perspective, system-wide mindset and public service ethos of our future healthcare leadership. All these are important efforts to groom the next generation of leadership for the public healthcare system.

9.       Events such as the Singapore Healthcare Management will offer healthcare administrators the opportunities to learn and forge new collaborations with like-minded partners. The three-day event which includes the Singapore Healthcare Enterprise Risk Management, Singapore Healthcare Supply Chain Management Congress and Food Services in Healthcare Summit, will enable them to learn from eminent speakers from leading healthcare and academic institutions.

Promoting innovations and improvements in healthcare
10.     Even as we invest in training, it is important not to lose sight of the fundamentals that will keep healthcare affordable in a sustainable way over the long term, and yet produce good outcomes in terms of accessibility and quality of care. A key driver in healthcare costs is improvements in medical care – new and improved drugs, better treatments, breakthroughs in surgical techniques – that improve quality of life and extend life.

11.     As healthcare providers, we need to make the best use of the resources that we have and to make sure that whatever we spend now is sustainable in the long term. We must always strive to innovate, raise productivity and develop new and more cost-effective models of care to bring about a more affordable, but yet high-quality healthcare system.

12.     I am glad to note that the organisers have created a poster competition to encourage healthcare administrators in the various healthcare clusters to submit projects pertaining to supply chain innovation, service quality, human resource, risk management, finance and communications. I understand from the organisers that they have received more than 130 submissions from various healthcare clusters. This number is a multi-fold increase from last year and reflects the strong innovative spirit and practice among our healthcare institutions to improve efficiency and productivity.

Conclusion
13.     While we build capacity and develop our healthcare manpower, we are also undertaking a review of our healthcare financing framework. The Government will do more to give Singaporeans greater peace of mind over healthcare costs but it is also a collective responsibility where all of us must do our part.

14.     MOH and the public healthcare clusters are committed in working with the industry to build a strong pipeline of healthcare leaders and administrators so that Singaporeans can continue to have affordable, accessible and quality healthcare.

15.     We will continue to develop and improve training infrastructure to enable healthcare administrators to upgrade their skills continually so that they will not lose their edge in what is an ever evolving and highly demanding sector.

16.     Finally I would like to encourage you to continue to put patients at the heart of all you do. I wish everyone a fruitful and fulfilling time at this meeting.

Thank you.