Although not fully out of the woods yet, we are now moving from a pandemic to an endemic state. With our population largely vaccinated, we are able to ease out of most of the social restrictions imposed during the pandemic. We are steadfastly gaining normalcy in our everyday way of life.

My sincere gratitude to our NHG Family, partners, and supporters for your encouragement and extraordinary show of solidarity, which propelled us forward in one of the most difficult periods experienced.

Managing Better Health for Our Population

COVID-19 has also brought to the fore the importance of staying well through ownership of one’s health. The COVID-19 experience gave us valuable insights on how self-care and individual empowerment can prevent the onset of illness through a holistic preventive health approach that essentially comprises Healthy Diet, Healthy Lifestyle, and Integrated and Quality Care. As our hospitals and clinics progressively reallocate manpower and operational resources from the management of COVID-19 patients back to managing the care of our population, we shall stay true to our vision of Adding Years Of Healthy Life.

We will fast-track our River of Life rollout, augmented by our Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and boost enrolment to Healthier SG. Today, about 57 per cent of the 1.5 million residents in the Central-North region have an existing relationship with NHG. Through Healthier SG, we will engage more General Practitioners (GPs) to provide holistic care to more residents, with an emphasis on upstream preventive steps, through regular screening, lifestyle modification, and proactive disease management. We will be counting on our medical, nursing, and Allied Health staff, and healthcare coaches to promote Living Well beyond the hospitals by reaching beyond schools, workplaces, neighbourhoods, and the community.

Nurses form the largest professional group in the healthcare sector. They spend the most time with our patients. As we dive deeper into collective partnerships with GPs, our nurses will play bigger roles to support and strengthen interactions and relationships with both family physicians and patients. They will be empowered with technological devices and data to help drive the bulk of preventive services under Healthier SG.

Our Pharmacists and Allied Health Professionals will also have their roles redesigned to align with Healthier SG. To prepare for the shift, the NHG Group Pharmacy Council was set up in November 2021 to shape and influence better delivery, better experience, and better value for our patients. Similarly, the NHG Allied Health Council and NHG Group Allied Health are spearheading efforts to rethink, redesign, and deliver meaningful Allied Health services to support residents, patients, GPs, and community partners in their health goals and pathways.

Developing Mental Health Resilience

The Institute of Mental Health (IMH) has been a vanguard of mental health and an innovator in destigmatising mental illness through public education and prevention. IMH rolled out seven interactive training modules in August 2021, under the GP Partnership Programme, to deepen GPs’ understanding of common mental health disorders and mental health issues. This Programme equipped the GPs to support patients at the primary care level. Since its rollout, more than 100 GPs have registered for the Programme.

IMH is also embarking on the second nationwide Mind Matters: A Study of Mental Health Literacy’ to monitor changing trends in knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes about common mental health disorders and management in the community. The one-year study began in August 2022 and involved some 4,000 Singapore residents aged between 18 and 65 years old. The findings will provide valuable data for future public health policies to cultivate mental health resilience in Singapore.

Investing in Digitalisation and Infrastructure

We achieved another milestone in our digital healthcare transformation journey when Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), together with the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI), Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital, and Ren Ci Community Hospital, successfully transited to the Next Generation Electronic Medical Record (NGEMR) system on 30 July 2022. The NGEMR harmonises processes across NHG and the NUHS, thereby enabling a more integrated and seamless aggregation of, and access to, patients’ medical information across care teams and partnering institutions. Also strengthened is our capacity to collate patient data and analyse trends, patterns, and behaviours over time. As a result, patients will receive more timely and coordinated care, and an improved experience with overall cost and time savings in the long term.

TTSH opened the Ang Mo Kio Specialist Centre (AMKSC) in March 2022. The Centre provides a suite of specialist services closer to residents in the community such as transdisciplinary diabetes care management, optometrist-led eye care, and audiologist-led hearing evaluation. In line with Healthier SG, TTSH is partnering GPs and polyclinics to co-manage residents’ health and care in the community. For example, GPs can refer their patients for specialist diagnostics, therapy and procedures offered at AMKSC and receive updates on their patients’ progress for continuing care.

We continue to enhance our infrastructure, with the new National Skin Centre (NSC) building slated to open in 2023. It will house state-of-the-art facilities to enhance clinical functions, training, and research. With more consultation rooms, a fully-equipped Day Treatment Centre for outpatients, and skin imaging and skin physiology laboratories, it will provide a more seamless and integrated care experience. The new building also features a Day Care Centre and a Patient Education Centre for public use.

On the research front, NHG together with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) launched co11ab Novena (co11ab), a S$15 million incubator to support biomedical technology (BioMedtech) start-ups, which are making the leap from research and development into commercialising their innovations. Located at NTU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine), the incubator aims to be a national innovation and translational hub that brings together research, clinical, and venturecreation activities. It is scheduled to be fully operational in the first quarter of 2023.

Recognising Achievements in the NHG Family

I would like to acknowledge the numerous accomplishments of the NHG Family in the past year. Over 166 Senior Management and Staff from across NHG and our Institutions were honoured at the National Day Awards 2022. My heartiest congratulations to the recipients for exemplifying the spirit of public service, and a special thanks to their leaders, coaches, and teams for enabling them to excel.

In July 2022, 31 NHG nurses were presented with the Nurses’ Merit Award for their exceptional performance, professional development, and contributions that raised the standards of the nursing profession. Ms Nirmala Bte Karmaroon, Deputy Director, Nursing, TTSH, and Mr Aziz Bin Ab Hamed, Senior Nurse Clinician, IMH, received the President’s Award, the highest accolade in the Singapore nursing profession. Ms Nirmala was integral in manpower planning during the surge in COVID-19 cases, while Senior Nurse Clinician Mr Aziz Bin Ab Hamed was recognised for his innovative ways in integrating IMH’s long-stay patients under rehabilitation back to society.

As a cluster, NHG and its Institutions were conferred the Public Sector Transformation (PST) COVID-19 Awards across nine categories, for our efforts, service, innovation, and organisational excellence. Separately, NHG was awarded the OpenGov Recognition of Excellence 2021, in recognition of our innovative and disruptive use of technology in healthcare in the optimisation of health processes, delivery of patient-centric services, and pushing new boundaries for advancing healthcare.

I would also like to congratulate our colleagues honoured at the National Medical Excellence Awards (NMEA) 2021 & 2020: Professor Chong Siow Ann, Senior Consultant of the Research Division and Department of Psychosis, IMH (National Outstanding Clinician Award 2021), for his exemplary contributions in mental health research and treatment; Associate Professor Sum Chee Fang, Senior Consultant, Division of Endocrinology, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) and Diabetes Centre, Admiralty Medical Centre (AdMC) (National Outstanding Clinician Award 2020), for his extensive contributions in diabetes and endocrinology; Associate Professor Nicholas Chew, Chairman Medical Board of Woodlands Health (National Outstanding Clinician Educator Award 2020), for his work as the former NHG Group Chief Education Officer; and the COVID-19 Research Workgroup at NCID (National Clinical Excellence Team Award 2021) for its role in the pandemic response in Singapore and globally.

NHG and our Institutions also clinched 12 awards across multiple categories at APEX 2022, an annual US-based competition which recognises excellence in publishing. Additionally, NHG’s Lifewise magazine also won Best Magazine Infographics at the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) Asian Media Awards 2022. Congratulations to the Group Corporate Communications and Institution Communications Teams for your creativity and engaging content to boost public education on health across print, social, and digital platforms.