Regional Health Systems and Progress and Plan for Integration of Healthcare Services

Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef asked the Minister for Health with the introduction of the Regional Health Systems, what is the progress and plan for the integration of healthcare from primary to tertiary care, step-down, intermediate to long-term care and community-based care.

Regional Health Systems (RHS) has been established with the aim of developing and strengthening partnerships across care providers in the region, both private and public, and across care settings – tertiary, primary and community care, to deliver integrated care to our population. RHS has embarked on several programmes, ranging from preventive health to management of chronic diseases to caring for frail patients.

For preventive health, RHS has actively moved into the community in partnership with community organisations to conduct health screenings as well as programmes to help residents embark on a healthier lifestyle. In Taman Jurong for example, Juronghealth System has partnered the grassroots to reach out to and recruit residents for health screening and linked up with Lakeside Family Medicine Clinic to provide subsequent patient follow-up services. Over 12,000 residents have benefited from this and other similar programmes.

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In terms of chronic disease management, RHS has made efforts to integrate care between specialist outpatient clinics and primary care providers to better care for patients in the community. A good example is the partnership between Frontier Family Medicine Clinic (FMC) and the National University Hospital (NUH). Supported by data linkages, Frontier FMC’s primary care physicians can access appropriate patient information from NUH to facilitate shared care to patients. Overall, this results in fewer appointments, more integrated care for the patient and savings for the system as a whole. Over 2,000 patients have benefited under this and similar arrangements thus far.

RHS is also paying more attention to frail patients by helping them manage and monitor their chronic or complex conditions and to improve their health awareness and capability to take care of themselves. Under Khoo Teck Puat Hospital’s Ageing-In-Place (AIP) programme, community nurses are deployed to the patients’ homes to manage and monitor their conditions. These nurses also serve as the single point of contact to patients by coordinating healthcare services, such as home and medical care and specialists appointments, as well as non-medical services, such as befriending, wellness and home help. Over 3,000 patients have benefitted from AIP and similar programmes island-wide.

We will continue to work closely with partners in healthcare and social care in the community and monitor the results of the various initiatives. We will learn from these initiatives and refine our healthcare service delivery models to better address patients’ needs in a cost-effective manner.