18 Apr 2010
‘Our patients’ health is our bottom line’
SingHealth aims to provide affordable and good health care for the people with new technology, highly trained professionals and better service, reports Philip Lee
THE biggest challenge facing the Singapore Health Services (SingHealth) is to transform the group and provide health care that is significantly better than the past 10 years, says Professor Tan Ser Kiat (below), group chief executive officer of Singapore’s largest health care cluster.
The other challenge is to continue providing patients with affordable health care in the face of rising costs.
He says: “SingHealth’s bottom line is not profit. Our patients’ health is our bottom line.”
While SingHealth has succeeded in many ways, much remains to be done, he notes. Listing the group’s priorities, he says: “We want to achieve great improvements through the use of better technology, better trained health-care professionals and leverage on the quantum leaps made in medical research and biomedical science here and abroad.”
This means making full use of IT and cutting-edge biomedical research, and the recruitment and nurturing of talented medical and allied health-care workers. All this will translate into better patient care.
“The other task is to redevelop our infrastructure, such as the establishment of Academic Medical Centres, like SGH Campus, and the rebuilding of new facilities like the upcoming National Heart Centre Singapore building,” he says.
Speaking at his SGH Campus office about SingHealth’s 10 years of health-care services to the people, he identifies the group’s other challenges.
“One is to ensure that we have enough money to finance our health-care services and, two, to improve continually the talent of staff.
“No matter how much money you plough into health care, it is never enough. So we’ve got to balance this with what is optimal,” he says.
“As for talent, we want to make sure that every single staff member is a totally dedicated worker. I want them to be well-trained, highly skilled and competent professionals.
“This is SingHealth’s ideal. We must continue to work at it.
“It is like running on a treadmill. You must run faster than the treadmill speed to be ahead. If you are at the same speed, you stagnate.”
He says SingHealth’s future leaders will emerge from its workforce of more than 17,000 and leadership succession is a vital part of the group’s growth strategy.
“This is my life’s philosophy – that whoever takes over from me must be at least two steps ahead of me. How do I do that? You select good people at the outset.”
On SingHealth’s three pillars — service, education and research — Prof Tan says the SGH Campus, housing Singapore’s second medical school in partnership with Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, will strengthen them.
Better technology is already being harnessed for improved patient care, he says.
“We are fairly advanced in the use of IT to access electronic medical records as well as lab results of patients.
“This helps us deliver care faster. And then, of course, we also use the findings of medical research to treat patients better.”
More efforts will also be made to deliver health care to patients in their community instead of having them going to the hospital.
Patient welfare, he stresses, is at the centre of SingHealth’s public mission, which he describes as endeavours to “heal the body, comfort the mind and soothe the soul.”
“We all know that when a person is sick, psychological and social problems are also involved. His family will also be involved.
“Our responsibility is to ensure that we not only treat the illness but also provide support to deal with the accompanying upheavals affecting the patient.
“For us, treating a patient is like taking a plane. No matter what class you are in, we will take you to your destination safely.
“The comforts on board may differ but the quality of care is the same.”
Prof Tan says that delivering health care in future will be predictive rather than reactive.
With the help of computers, a doctor can identify the genes that are linked to certain diseases. This, combined with a patient’s family medical history and environmental factors, can determine the patient’s predisposition to the disease.
“This allows for more effective disease prevention and better screening campaigns for early disease prevention,” he explains.
More research and funds will also be channelled towards combating diseases that are prevalent in developed countries, such as cancers, mental health, and the needs of an ageing population.
This dedication to heal and comfort is reflected in SingHealth’s motto: “Patients. At the heart of all we do.”
Over the last decade, SingHealth, as the largest health-care provider, has been learning and evolving to respond to the needs of Singaporeans. Clinical breakthroughs, quality improvements, infrastructure development, medical advances and innovations achieved all have improvement of patient care as the focus.
We will keep pushing the boundaries to set new benchmarks and manage health-care costs so that care remains affordable to the average Singaporean. We are also committed to creating a working environment where our teaching tradition will continue to flourish together with a spirit of inquiry. Our health-care professionals today will groom and nurture better doctors, nurses and allied health professionals than themselves to transform the future of health care for tomorrow.
Mr Peter Seah
Chairman, SingHealth
Big changes on SGH Campus
New clinical services, shorter waiting times, upgraded facilities and more research – these are in the works as the SGH Campus undergoes changes to make things better.
Dr Wong Yue Sie, SingHealth’s group chief operating officer, says: “The demands on the Singapore health-care system have continued to evolve as our population ages and chronic diseases become more prevalent.”
He says SingHealth’s institutions are responding to meet these needs.
“We do this through the introduction of new clinical services and by continuing to invest in clinical research and health-care training and education. This ensures that we are able to deliver cost-effective and clinically appropriate treatments that give our patients the best outcomes.”
Dr Wong, who is also the chairman of SGH’s division of ambulatory and clinical support services, says: “Over the next three years on SGH Campus, patients will experience better facilities and expanded capacities at the new National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS) building.
“There will also be a new multistorey car park, which will provide almost 600 more parking spaces.
“The new SGH Pathology Building will provide us with the facilities to support clinical research as we seek to discover new treatments through translational clinical research and strengthen our health-care education. This ensures that we have well-trained health-care professionals delivering care to our patients.
“In the next 10 years, we will continue to work with the Ministry of Health to transform SGH Campus into a vibrant hub that provides first-class care for our patients, conduct leading-edge clinical research and train our next generation of health-care leaders.”
On the new NHCS, Associate Professor Koh Tian Hai, the centre’s director, describes it as a one-stop cardiac facility.
“With our new building, which will be ready in 2013, patients can look forward to a three-fold increase in the number of clinics and enhanced features such as self-registration kiosks and one-stop payment systems to help cut down waiting times.”
Prof Koh says the NHCS will be a digital heart hospital that harnesses the latest health-care technology to enhance patient safety, improve productivity and patient outcomes.
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