Hassle-free services 
by Cheryl Lim cheryll@mediacorp.com.sg

SINGAPORE - Wherever you live, you can look forward to having the bulk of your healthcare needs taken care of, without having to travel far from home.

For example, Sembawang residents can expect to have immunisation, healthcare talks, coughs and colds, surgeries, deliveries, home nursing, palliative care et cetera to be fully met by the northern cluster of healthcare providers, anchored by the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH).

This was what Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said in his blog entry yesterday, as he elaborated on plans for regionalising healthcare, which he had announced previously.

"Within each region, I expect the acute hospital to work closely with key healthcare partners (community hospitals, nursing homes, GPs, home healthcare teams, hospices etc) in the region, with all taking a patient-centric approach in their daily work (as opposed to the traditional institution-centric approach)," he said.

However, patients will still have the power of choice.

Each cluster of healthcare providers will not be given "monopoly power", said Mr Khaw. Patients who choose to be treated in other hospitals or community hospitals in other regions, should have the freedom to do so.

"And some with very complicated medical conditions requiring sub-specialist care may have to go to SGH or NUH for such expertise. But by and large, most of the needs can be catered for within the region: This will be convenient and help patients save on transport cost," he said.

The GP Chronic Care Programme at Changi General Hospital (CGH) is an example of how this plan is materialising in bits and pieces.

Patients with chronic conditions at CGH who no longer require specialist care can take part in the programme which currently has 51 general practitioners providing follow up care for 274 patients.

Mr Low Cheng Ooi, chairman of CGH's medical board, told MediaCorp patients like it because it is flexible.

"They do not have to queue up in clinics to see our specialists. Our GPs like it because they also have access to our specialists whenever they have problems, they can consult easily."

With its success, CGH is gearing up to take the programme one step further.

"We can try to track our patients using IT as an enabler, so that the healthcare providers can get the right information at the right time for our patients. This way, we can also see where our patients are in the system and where they need help, " said Ms Selina Seah, director of operations at CGH.