SPEECH BY MR ONG YE KUNG, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND COORDINATING MINISTER FOR SOCIAL POLICIES, AT HEALTHCARE FACILITY DESIGN STANDARDS LAUNCH EVENT

Colleagues, friends, ladies and gentlemen,

1.              I am happy to join you today to launch the Healthcare Facility Design Standards, or HFDS, at this event. The HFDS enables us to build our public hospitals better, faster and more efficiently, to meet the growing healthcare demand.

Developing Hospitals Differently

2.              At the opening of Woodlands Health Campus last year, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong was the Guest-of-Honour. He gave a very good speech but in the middle of his speech, he posed us a very worthy challenge. He noted that the time taken to develop hospitals, such as Woodlands Health Campus, was quite long.  But with rising demand for healthcare, he said we can certainly do better, and the next hospital should probably take less time.

3.              Long timelines for hospital development has been an issue that we have been grappling with, and SM Lee’s challenge gave us the greatest impetus.  In meeting the challenge, we focused on three things: Number one, standardising our hospital designs as far as possible; number two, compressing the project review and approval processes, and number three, involving contractors and consultants earlier in the development and design processes. And we did all three.

4.              So today’s event marks a significant step for the first item – standardising hospital designs. 

5.              The HFDS was therefore developed and it was developed based on insights from clinicians, operators, and also accumulated lessons from past healthcare development projects.  The areas of standardisation are very detailed and include aspects of architecture, interior design, medical planning, mechanical and electrical systems, and construction methods. Take for example, we have now standardised ward layouts, wayfinding designs, plumbing systems, and lifts.

6.              The impact of HFDS on hospital project timelines will be significant. To illustrate, we mentioned Woodlands Health Campus earlier. It was a bespoke hospital – one of a kind. It took us 10 years to develop, partly due to the delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The new Eastern General Hospital, that is currently being developed, is also specially designed. It will take us about eight and a half years to develop.

7.              With HFDS, combined with early contractor involvement and compression of our project review processes, we aim to develop our next hospital – Tengah General and Community Hospital. That hospital will take about seven years to develop.  And we will likewise apply HFDS in future projects, such as the new Tan Tock Seng Hospital Medical Tower, and the redevelopment of National University Hospital Kent Ridge.

8.              A shorter project timeline is not an end in itself.  It brings many benefits. It means we do not have to repeat the design process for every new hospital development. It means we make construction more predictable. It means we reduce cost variability and risks throughout the project.  These would all lead to improved project cost effectiveness. In Chinese, there is a saying “夜长梦多” – when you sleep longer, you have a lot more dreams. But you build a project for longer, you also have a lot more variation and risks. 

9.              I should emphasise that having standard designs do not mean stagnation.  We will continue to refine and improve the standards, which are a living document, evolving to keep with the times constantly.  And to facilitate continuous improvement, the standards are now captured in our Computer Aided Virtual Environment (CAVE) system, and you can virtually walk through them.

10.         Similarly, hospitals can continue to differentiate themselves through their models of care, such as the way you integrate acute care with community care, how you adopt new technology especially artificial intelligence technology, and how you put forward your brand identity. Hospital facades can be different. Hospital environments can be different and the way you use green spaces can be different. And each hospital will still be able to project your own character and your own identity.

A New Approach That Benefits All

11.         The new approach of using HFDS to develop hospitals benefits everyone.

12.         For the developer, i.e. MOH and MOHH, we get to deliver new hospitals faster.  As we standardise infrastructure requirements, there will be cost savings. We have already seen this happening due to the bulk procurement of lifts for both the new Eastern General Hospital and the redevelopment of Alexandra Hospital. Importantly, a more compressed timeline for project completion reduces variability and risks, as I mentioned earlier.

13.         For consultants, instead of having to start from scratch for each project, you can use proven designs to build improvements. We are already seeing this at work in the planning of the new Tengah General and Community Hospital. Instead of building physical mock-ups, we can visualise and refine our designs digitally, saving both time and resources.

14.         For contractors, standardisation is music to the ears. We will improve the coordination of building systems, especially mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. This reduces design clashes, and less rework means better time and budget management.  It unlocks opportunities for contractors to adopt new technologies and improve productivity. For example, design uniformity makes prefabrication possible, and components can be manufactured off-site with precision, then assembled seamlessly on-site because we know they will fit perfectly.

15.         And perhaps the biggest proof point of the benefit of HFDS to contractors is the industry’s strong response to the Tengah General and Community Hospital project. At the recently closed pre-qualification exercise for the hospital, it attracted eleven interested consortia and contractors. I thank everyone for your interest. Four will be shortlisted for the upcoming tender.

16.         HFDS will also benefit clinicians. By having standard designs for clinical spaces such as wards, operating theatres, and operational areas such as disposal rooms, clinicians would not need to learn a new layout every time they go to a new hospital. This improves efficiency and it also supports better care delivery.

17.         Most importantly, the ultimate beneficiaries are the patients that we serve. They will be served by hospitals that are delivered faster and better. Further, HFDS will enhance clinical safety and quality by ensuring consistent infection control measures, such as standardised sink placement and clearly defined 'clean' and 'dirty' workflow zones.

Conclusion

18.         In conclusion, I want to recognise the invaluable contributions of the Standardisation Review Committee, especially Mr Richard Lim, Mr Sherman Kwek and Mr Ong Yew Hing.

19.         My appreciation also goes out to the Standardisation Work Group which provided input and feedback in their respective domains over multiple work group sessions. I also extend my appreciation to government agencies, namely the Building Construction Authority and the Ministry of Finance for working with us closely on this. 

20.        Singapore has built wonderful hospitals over the decades – which serve our people very well, and we can be very proud of them. With an ageing population and rising healthcare demand, we will need to build and redevelop more and more hospitals, so we not only have to build good hospitals, but we have to do so better, faster and with greater cost effectiveness. Let us continue to work together to collaborate as partners, to make improvements that benefit everyone. Thank you.