Speech by Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Health, at the Healthcare Infrastructure Technology & Engineering Conference 2018

His Excellency Mr. Marc Abensour, Ambassador of France

Her Excellency Paula Parviainen, Ambassador of the Republic of Finland

His Excellency Scott Wightman, British High Commissioner

Senior Minister of State, Dr Amy Khor

Mr Goh Aik Guan, MD/MOHH

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

            Good morning. I am delighted to join you this morning at the sixth Healthcare Infrastructure Technology & Engineering Conference (HI.TEC). I would first like to welcome our two partners, The French Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and Embassy of Finland in Singapore, who are joining us at this conference to share their experiences on trends and technologies shaping the healthcare landscapes in their countries. By learning from one another, I am confident that we will be better prepared to meet the healthcare challenges of tomorrow in our respective countries. 

Building capacity, increasing accessibility across the settings

2.            Singapore’s ageing population, together with the rise in chronic conditions, will result in an increasing demand for healthcare services.

Capacity in Hospital and Specialist Care

3.            To meet this growing demand, the government has been building capacity under the Healthcare 2020 Masterplan. Since 2010, we have opened Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Changi General Hospital-St Andrew Community Hospital Integrated Building, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, Jurong Community Hospital and Yishun Community Hospital.

4.            Sengkang General and Commuity Hospitals will open later in the year with Outram Community Hospital will open by 2020, followed by the new National Cancer Centre soon after. Work on SGH’s new Department of Emergency Medicine will be commencing soon. The National University Centre for Oral Health Singapore will open next year. The Woodlands General and Community Hospitals will start operations progressively from 2022 onwards. The new Integrated Care Hub at Novena is currently under construction and the National Centre for Infectious Diseases will open in stages from end-2018.

5.            The Changi General Hospital’s new Medical Centre (CGH MC) will start operating in just one month’s time, from the end of April. It is a one-stop facility, designed to facilitate the collaboration between different specialties and disciplines so that patients with complex medical conditions can receive high quality team-based care. CGH is also working to improve patients’ overall experience. For example, the Medical Centre will be implementing the “One Queue One Payment” system.  Patients will receive one queue number for their entire patient visit, be it to the clinics, pharmacy, or radiology, and have only one bill to settle at the end.

Capacity in Primary Care Sector

6.            Building a strong primary care foundation is critical for a good healthcare system that is also sustainable. To ensure that Singaporeans can receive care nearer to their homes and families, I have announced earlier this month that MOH is planning new polyclinics. Currently, we have 20 polyclinics and 4 new ones are under development for completion by 2020. We would need to build another six to eight polyclinics by 2030, including one in Nee Soon Central and one in Tampines North, which we target to open by 2023.

7.            We have also been redeveloping older polyclinics. The redeveloped Yishun Polyclinic will be opening in July 2018 to replace the current one. Residents will benefit from the expanded services, and new team-based care models which aim to support patients with chronic medical conditions.

8.            In parallel to increasing polyclinic capacity, we have also been working closely with private sector general practitioners. We have established 10 Primary Care Networks (PCNs), covering 340 GP clinics. This will allow Singaporeans to have better access to good quality team-based primary care for the management of their chronic conditions, anchored by a family GP and subsidised through our CHAS scheme. 

Capacity in ILTC Sector

9.            In terms of aged care capacity, we have increased the supply of nursing homes, home care and centre-based services to meet our seniors’ needs. Since 2011, we have added 5,300 nursing home beds, 4,200 home-based care places, and 2,900 centre-based care places. We will continue to increase aged care capacity to meet our seniors’ needs.

Healthcare Development Budget

10.         This is a lot of building and development. As a result of our significant efforts to increase capacity, our healthcare development budget has also increased significantly over the last decade. We must ensure that we spend prudently, and get good value for our investments.  This is not just in the provision of healthcare services. Construction productivity and innovation is also an important area of focus for MOH and our healthcare clusters.

Construction Productivity and Innovation

11.         I am glad to note that our industry partners have risen to the challenge, and have been collaborating very closely with MOHH to introduce new productive construction technologies. 

12.         For example, the recently opened Ang Mo Kio Polyclinic, was constructed using precast concrete with extensive use of standardised prefabricated components. This resulted in a 30% improvement in construction productivity compared to conventional cast in-situ construction methods.  It also reduced noise and dust in the surrounding.  Better quality finishes can also be achieved as the prefabricated components are manufactured in a controlled factory environment. 

13.         MOHH has also adopted the prefabricated Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (or MEP) modular systems for healthcare developments. These MEP prefabricated modules will minimise labour intensive work on site, enhance quality of work and simplify coordination among multiple stakeholders. Pumps on skids, prefab ceiling modules and vertical risers are some of the initiatives that are being considered for the upcoming Woodlands Health Campus (WHC) project.  We expect these initiatives to achieve about 30% manpower savings in the relevant areas of work.

Beyond Building Smart to Smart Buildings

14.         Construction productivity helps us to build smart. But, we can go further. The design of our healthcare facilities can help staff work more productively, and help patients navigate more smoothly. The use of building management systems can also help facilitate more efficient use of scarce resources. Digital technologies are not new in the construction sector. In fact, the industry has gone beyond just modelling buildings using Building Information Modelling design softwares. Some designers and contractors are starting to engage in game changing digital technologies such as Virtual Reality, Virtual Design and Construction and Design for Manufacturing and Assembly. In the areas of Smart technologies, the industry is increasingly adopting intelligent process technologies like Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence in the building management systems.

15.            This is why the theme of this year’s conference is “Designing for future healthcare: Technology and beyond”, which reinforces the importance we are placing on productivity and innovation in all aspects of infrastructure building and management. One highlight of this year’s conference is a centralized smart management information system that can consolidate the real time data and live videos from all of a building’s management systems. This enables holistic situation awareness for fast emergency response, and increases efficiency in the use of clinical resources and manpower. We need to constantly think about how we can improve the design of future healthcare facilities.

16.         Last Friday, MOH Holdings launched an open request for quotation to procure consultancy services to develop a framework for smart technologies for public healthcare facilities. We hope to map out the strategies to better manage public healthcare facilities and improve patient safety and experience, streamline workflows and increase overall productivity.

Conclusion

17.         In summary, my challenge for all our partners and colleagues in healthcare industry is to go beyond building smart, to developing and delivering smart buildings which can enable us to achieve our objective of providing good and efficient care, and in enhancing both the staff working environment and patient experience. 

18.         I hope you will pick up useful ideas from today’s conference and develop collaborative frameworks among stakeholders. I look forward to all of us doing our part as leaders, industry partners, and as individuals.

19.         I wish all of you a fruitful and productive conference. Thank you.