Page 4105 - Week 12 - Thursday, 1 December 2022
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chronic diseases, limitations in primary care and non-acute sectors, and barriers to the integration of care across the system.
The Singapore Ministry of Health has responded to these challenges by implementing a suite of innovative reforms under its Healthier SG healthcare system transformation, Healthcare 2020 Masterplan and Three Beyonds Strategy, with a vision to move beyond health care to health, beyond hospital to community and beyond quality to value. The ACT government shares this ambition for the ACT health system. This trade mission provided me, the heads of our health organisations and our territory partners with the opportunity to gain insights into how we could learn from some of Singapore’s successes in the ACT.
As is now a tradition for ACT government trade missions, the first meeting for the delegation was with the Deputy Australian High Commissioner to Singapore, Ms Angela Robinson. The Deputy High Commissioner and her team provided useful insights into Singapore’s health system, which helped to enrich our experience throughout the trade mission and strengthen our bilateral relationship.
We visited Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, a major acute hospital in the western health region of Singapore that has been designed from the ground up to ensure patient-centred services are delivered in a seamless and integrated way. This relatively new hospital was the first in Singapore to implement the Epic Digital Health Record software—the same system that went live across ACT public hospitals on 12 November 2022. This visit served the dual purpose of viewing Epic software in operation and observing innovative hospital design and its application to integrated patient-centred health services.
The Ng Teng Fong General Hospital is part of an integrated health precinct, adjacent to a smaller sub-acute and rehabilitation hospital, with access to public transport and amenities. Within the hospital itself, cleverly designed clinical spaces promote enhanced patient experiences, and a strong focus on digital technology supports efficient and effective care. Hospital executives spoke about technology not replacing care but supporting “one queue, one view, one patient experience”, and medical and nursing staff showcased how end-user devices such as computers on wheels and hand-held devices promote better patient care on their ward.
During the broader tour of the hospital, clinical areas for outpatients, critical care, pharmacy, pathology and other support services were seen and the innovative links to the broader hospital were highlighted. This included the use of clinical and supporting technologies in the design of infrastructure to support patient flow throughout the hospital, treatment and care, as well as ensuring meaningful work for their health workforce.
On the second day of the trade mission, we were hosted by a Health Tech Centre of Excellence that uses medical technology to drive health system innovation. We learned about how technology and big data are driving a sharper focus on quality and safety and will play a critical role in future health systems. This includes the role of automation, patient-centric design and digital transformation opportunities, thinking beyond bricks and mortar and traditional ways of working to take health into the community.
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