18Ministry of Health (MOH) has announced that it will reorganise the public healthcare system into three integrated clusters to better meet Singaporeans’ future healthcare needs.
The three integrated clusters formed will be as follows:
- Central region – National Healthcare Group (NHG) and Alexandra Health System (AHS) will be merged.
- Eastern region –Singapore Health Services (SingHealth) and Eastern Health Alliance (EHA) will be merged.
- Western region – National University Health System (NUHS) and Jurong Health Services (JurongHealth) will be merged.
MOH stated that the polyclinics will also be reorganised, in line with the three new clusters. The National University Polyclinics group will be formed under NUHS, joining SingHealth Polyclinics and NHG Polyclinics as Singapore’s third polyclinic group.
It noted that the integrated clusters will each be headed by a Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), namely Prof Philip Choo (Group CEO, NHG); Prof Ivy Ng (Group CEO, SingHealth); and Prof John Wong Eu Li (Group CEO, NUHS). Dr Lew Yii Jen (currently Senior Director, Clinical Services, NHG Polyclinics) will be the CEO for the new National University Polyclinics.
The Ministry said that the country’s public healthcare system is currently organised into six regional health systems – Alexandra Health System, Eastern Health Alliance, Jurong Health Services, National Healthcare Group, National University Health System and Singapore Health Services.
Adding that they operate a range of healthcare institutions, and build partnerships among healthcare providers in their respective region, including acute and community hospitals, primary care providers, nursing homes and other long-term care providers.
“While the system has served us well, we have to transform our healthcare system and delivery to be future ready. Our future healthcare needs will grow in volume and complexity due to our ageing population and increased chronic disease burden,” MOH wrote.
The implementation of the Healthcare 2020 Masterplan, to expand capacity, improve quality and enhance the affordability of healthcare, is in progress.
Last year, the Ministry of Health further outlined three key shifts in our healthcare system beyond 2020: from Hospital to Community, from Quality to Value and from Healthcare to Health.
It said that each new integrated cluster will have a fuller range of facilities, capabilities, services and networks across different care settings. They will be able to draw from the combined strengths and talents of their two original clusters to deliver more comprehensive and person-centred health promotion, disease prevention, curative and rehabilitative care for the population in their respective regions.
MOH said that it will also work with them to ensure cross-cluster information flow and coordinated services so that together, it can serve as one public healthcare system for Singaporeans.
It noted that the reorganisation is expected to be completed by early 2018. Patients will not need to make any changes, and can continue with their existing healthcare arrangements and appointments.