Debated in Parliament on 14 Oct 2020.
Dr Tan Wu Meng asked the Minister for Health (a) what has been the experience of the GPFirst programme launched by Changi General Hospital; and (b) whether the Ministry has plans to extend the programme to other public hospitals and their respective nearby general practitioners in the community.
Mr Speaker, the GPFirst Programme was piloted at Changi General Hospital or CGH in January 2014. It aims to encourage patients with non-emergency conditions to seek treatment at General Practitioners or GPs rather than at Emergency Department or ED. This enables the ED to focus on attending to patients with life threatening and critical conditions. Patients assessed by the participating GPs as requiring emergency care would be referred on and be given priority to be seen earlier at the ED. These patients will be given a $50 subsidy on their ED bill to help offset the cost of their GP visit.
From 2014 to 2017, there was a reduction of about 8.5% in the self-referred attendances at CGH ED, which may be attributed to GPFirst and other measures implemented during this period of time.
MOH has expanded GPFirst beyond CGH's region in phases. As of September 2020, GPFirst has been expanded to involve more GPs around Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and the Urgent Care Centre @Admiralty Medical Centre, and will be progressively implemented in the region surrounding Sengkang General Hospital, National University Hospital and Ng Teng Fong General Hospital by the end of 2021.
PAPERCUTS