From being operationally resilient to cross-training staff, Yishun Health remains equipped and ready to care for patients in the North, while also prioritising the well-being of staff. In the community, the Population Health & Community Transformation team continues to educate and empower residents and partners, and is a bedrock for the nation’s move towards a Healthier SG.
COMMUNITIES OF CARE
At Yishun Health, health is delivered and managed mainly outside the walls of its hospitals and in the community, where residents participate and care for one another (Participatory Care Ecosystem), and are supported by relevant services (Community Services Ecosystem). In a crisis, residents are linked to Safety Net Services from the formal healthcare system, after which they are supported in navigating their Communities of Care (CoCs). To build individual and community capacity and resilience to meet residents’ different health and care needs, Yishun Health aims to achieve a good balance of all elements of the CoCs, in partnership with residents and community based organisations.
Residents behind the Dance UP programme.
PARTICIPATORY CARE ECOSYSTEM
In the Participatory Care Ecosystem, resident-led and healthcare-facilitated activities are combined to form a collection of co-produced activities in the community. More participation strengthens overall social capital and networks, and stimulates self-management of health.
Resident-initiated, resident-led activities
- Blessing Corner at the Blk 364A Sembawang Crescent void deck began after more than a year of conversations among residents.
- Dance UP is a programme which started in February 2022 with 15 residents, and aims to build balance, mobility, and posture in older adults who are frail or at risk of falls.
- Share a Pot @ Home was launched in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Singapore in October 2021.
- Wellness Kampung is a community space that supports healthier living.
Residents participating in the Sweet Truths Programme.
Community-based healthcare facilitated activities
- Skill UP uses online activities creatively to promote better health through eating and has engaged 419 residents to-date.
- Stepping On began in December 2021 to build capability in persons at risk of falls.
- Sweet Truths seeks to raise awareness on health literacy and resources. About eight runs have been organised since it started in September 2021, and 280 residents have attended the programme.
- Tune UP began in January 2022 to support persons with breathlessness problems. Two singing sessions are held every week, each attended by 10-15 residents.
A Tele-ACP discussion held over Zoom.
COMMUNITY SERVICES ECOSYSTEM
In the Community Services Ecosystem, Yishun Health works with its partners to provide crucial care and support for persons with progressive frailty and residual disabilities.
- Advance Care Planning (ACP) through Tele-ACP discussions was implemented from April 2020. The conduct of ACP training also went online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Community Health Posts (CHP) continue to support residents to self-manage their health. In FY2021, seven new posts opened in the neighbourhood, and a total of 1,143 residents visited the 18 health posts.
- GeriCare involves partnerships with nursing homes to enhance care.
- Shared Care Partnership Office has been establishing partnerships with General Practitioners (GPs), polyclinics, and Family Medicine Clinics to support patients when they transit between hospital and the community, depending on their care needs. In FY2021, 716 patients were right-sited to primary care.
AEC Service’s Dr Thofique Adamjee and Dr Kanak Naidu received the National HIP Award together with Prof Chua Hong Choon, A/Prof Phoa Lee Lan, and A/Prof Pek Wee Yang.
REDESIGNING CARE AND EDUCATION
AMBULATORY EMERGENCY CARE (AEC) SERVICE
KTPH launched the Ambulatory Emergency Care (AEC) Service — a first in Singapore — in September 2019. Under this new service, patients with acute medical conditions such as hypertensive urgency, severe anaemia, or deep vein thrombosis, can be treated without a long hospital stay. Patients are able to stay up to 23 hours in the AEC Unit, as well as go for follow-up at the AEC Clinic, if needed. Since the start of the AEC Service, the average length of stay per patient with acute medical conditions has shortened by 28.8 hours. It was presented the Best Practice Medal under the Care Redesign category at the National Healthcare Innovation and Productivity (HIP) Awards 2021.
The rTMS team from Psychological Medicine.
BUILDING BREAST CANCER SERVICES
In 2021, the KTPH Breast Unit implemented a ‘Fast Track Breast Clinic’ to provide seamless breast cancer evaluation for patients referred from polyclinics. The time taken to reach diagnosis was shortened from one month to about a week, which helped minimise patient anxiety as they waited for the results.
REPETITIVE TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC STIMULATION (RTMS) SERVICE
In January 2022, a team from the Department of Psychological Medicine at KTPH rolled out the repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) service for patients with treatment resistant depression. rTMS is a brain stimulation method that has been shown to be effective for the treatment of major depressive disorder in patients who did not respond to conventional treatment with antidepressant medications. It is non-invasive, and uses a focused rapidly-changing magnetic field generated by a coil placed on the head to induce electrical pulses, to stimulate nerve cells in targeted areas of the brain. The procedure allows patients to return to their everyday activities, including work or school, immediately after treatment. KTPH plans to extend this service to patients from other public and private clinics, and healthcare institutions from early 2023.