SINGAPORE - Around 8,000 people have benefited from a programme to help discharged patients since April last year, it was announced on Friday. (Feb 2)
Under the Hospital-to-Home (H2H) programme, public hospitals and other service providers work together to help a patient manage his condition at home after his discharge.
Institutions under Singapore's three regional health systems have come together to offer services under the scheme, which is managed by the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC).
Teams, which include nurses, doctors and case managers, keep tabs on discharged patients through phone calls and home visits. Once patients and caregivers are more confident, they are referred to community care organisations for more support.
"Our healthcare system was initially designed for a much younger population. We need to urgently transform the way we deliver care, if we want our healthcare system to continue to deliver appropriate and effective care for an ageing population," said Health Minister Gan Kim Yong on Friday.
One in four Singaporeans will be aged 65 and above by 2030, he added.
Mr Gan was speaking at the inaugural Global Conference on Integrated Care 2018 at the Resorts World Convention Centre in Sentosa. More than 1,600 people from 23 countries are attending the three-day event organised by the AIC.
"We need to move a seamless integration of care services organised around the patient," he added.
One way to achieve better integrated care is to make funding more flexible, by moving away from per day or per visit funding towards funding the bundles of services needed for an event of care, said Mr Gan.
For example, the H2H programme is funded on a per episode rate to give flexibility for care providers to tailor services to each patient's specific needs.
In his speech, Mr Gan also noted that progress has been made in connecting social- and health-related services.
The Care Close to Home programme, which enables the elderly in ageing rental precincts to age-in-place, has benefited more than 2,500 seniors, he noted.
The programme will be expanded to more sites this year, from its current 11 sites, he said.
