Speeches
Speech by Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Health, at the Raffles Medical Group's 40th Anniversary Corporate Dinner, 23 July
13 July 2016
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Dr Loo Choon Yong, Executive Chairman, Raffles Medical Group,
Board of Directors,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
INTRODUCTION
It is my pleasure this evening to join you at Raffles Medical Group’s 40th Anniversary celebration.
2. Raffles Medical Group (RMG) has come a long way, from a two-clinic practice, to becoming one of the largest integrated private healthcare providers in Singapore. Today, Raffles offers a diverse range of services from basic medical and dental care to specialist care, as well as related services and products. Raffles now operates a 168-bed hospital in central Singapore, and over 100 multi-disciplinary clinics island-wide. The Raffles Hospital Extension, which is expected to open next year, will increase the total hospital bed capacity to 300, to serve even more patients.
PUBLIC-PRIVATE COLLABORATIONS
3. To meet our growing healthcare needs, we have been building more healthcare facilities, including public hospitals, polyclinics, nursing homes and eldercare facilities. Last year, we opened Ng Teng Fong General Hospital and Jurong Community Hospital. This year, we opened Yishun Community Hospital. More facilities are in the pipeline.
4. Singapore’s growing healthcare needs also calls for public and private healthcare providers to work more closely as one integrated healthcare system. Private healthcare institutions like Raffles are important partners who can work alongside our public healthcare institutions, to ensure that healthcare remains accessible and affordable to all Singaporeans. I am glad that the Ministry and our public healthcare institutions have collaborations with Raffles with this aim in mind.
PRIMARY CARE
5. In the area of primary care, I note that all GP clinics in the Raffles Medical and Dental network participate in the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS), enabling eligible patients to benefit from government subsidies for their primary care needs. In May last year, the National Healthcare Group Polyclinics also started a collaboration with Raffles to refer CHAS patients with chronic conditions to Raffles GP clinics closer to their homes. This has provided patients with greater convenience. So far, almost 300 CHAS patients have been referred by NHGP to Raffles GPs. I am heartened to know that the patients have rated their experience positively.
6. My Ministry is working with our partners and stakeholders with Raffles GPs to strengthen primary care, so that it becomes the first and continuous line of care for all Singaporeans. I see GPs including Raffles as important partners in our primary care transformation effort, which is a key strategic priority for the Ministry, and I look forward to your support.
ACUTE CARE: EMERGENCY CARE COLLABORATION
7. Our collaboration with Raffles extends beyond primary care. Launched in June 2015, the Emergency Care Collaboration (ECC) is a partnership between the Ministry of Health and Raffles Medical Group, where Raffles Hospital receives patients brought in by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) ambulances for emergency medical care and subsequent follow up care. These patients pay subsidised rates similar to what they would pay in the public hospitals. This has helped improve patients’ access to Accident & Emergency (A&E) services.
8. After one year, I am pleased to share that the collaboration has enabled more than 2400[1]patients to be treated in Raffles Hospital and patient feedback has also been positive.
9. Raffles Hospital and the Ministry have also worked together to ensure good continuity of care for patients. Doctors at Raffles Hospital are able to access patients’ medical information in the National Electronic Health Records (NEHR). Raffles Hospital also updates the patient’s NEHR records with a discharge summary. Patients with conditions already managed by doctors elsewhere can be referred back to these doctors for follow-up care, instead of remaining at Raffles Hospital. This collaboration is a good example of how the public and private sector can work together.
HEALTHCARE MANPOWER
10. Raffles’ collaborations with the public sector go beyond patient care. We need to expand our pipeline of healthcare manpower and talent pool, to complement our infrastructure expansions, and meet the rising demand. The Ministry has been working with various educational institutions to increase student intakes into the healthcare professional programmes. Private healthcare providers are also opening up more opportunities for healthcare professionals to get the hands-on training that they need. Raffles, for instance, currently provides clinical attachment and supervision for residents enrolled under the NUHS Family Medicine Residency Programme, and from September this year, Raffles will also provide Family Medicine training postings for medical students from the Nanyang Technological University’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine. The support from Raffles will contribute to developing our medical manpower pool.
ADAPTING FOR CHANGING HEALTHCARE NEEDS
11. These public-private collaborations provide a good foundation which we should build on so as to meet our healthcare needs ahead. By 2030, one in four Singaporeans will be aged 65 and above. As our population ages, the focus of healthcare provision will also adjust to the needs of an older population, such as management of chronic diseases.
12. We need to re-evaluate the type of healthcare services we provide, and how they are delivered and organised. In the public sector, we have taken steps to make this shift and transform the way we deliver care. We are investing in community-based care – ramping up home care and centre-based services for the elderly – so that good care continues beyond the hospital, in the community, closer to home. We are investing more in primary care and encouraging all Singaporeans to have a regular family doctor – someone who can look after most of their healthcare needs over time.
13. With ageing, more patients are likely to have multiple conditions. This calls for a greater use of a multi-disciplinary team-based approach where complex cases can be addressed holistically in the most cost effective manner. We have piloted programmes in our public hospitals to deliver seamless and patient centred care to our patients with complex chronic conditions by streamlining the specialist appointments, coordinating care across the disciplines, and having shared care arrangements with the primary care providers. I urge Raffles to do the same, to review how care is organised so that your patients will benefit from better outcomes.
14. We know that patients are also very concerned about how to stretch their healthcare dollars. We need to go beyond looking at only quality, to also looking at value. Increasingly, governments around the world, including the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK)[2], are also exploring methods to pay healthcare providers based on the outcome of care provided. Similarly in Singapore, the Agency for Care Effectiveness (ACE) was established to provide objective, credible and evidence-based recommendations on the appropriate use of health technologies. As healthcare providers, it is also our responsibility to advise patients carefully when considering latest technologies and treatments that offer marginally-improved benefits but at a much higher cost. Care must not just be effective, but affordable. Doctors should prescribe drugs to their patients or choose implants for their efficacy and not their brand name or other factors. The public and private sectors alike have a responsibility to the patient to ensure that care is appropriate.
CLOSING
15. In closing, I would like to thank Raffles for being a key partner, and congratulate the board, management and staff of Raffles Medical Group on your achievements in the past 40 years. I wish Raffles every success.
[1] Total number of patients Raffles Hospital received under the collaboration between 3 June 2015 and 30 June 2016 is 2410.
[2] The Affordable Care Act in the US established tools such as the Medicare Shared Savings Programme and the Centre for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which tests a number of alternative payment models to achieve better care and smarter spending. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the UK produces evidence-based guidance and advice, and develops quality standards and performance metrics for health, public health and social care practitioners.