In February 2024, Professor Ng Wai Hoe was appointed as SingHealth’s Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO). Building on the strong one SingHealth identity that Professor Ivy Ng had established and united by our shared values and commitment, we continue our course to always put patients and our people at the heart of all we do.

Changing the way we care, beyond institutions’ walls

With the success of Singapore General Hospital’s (SGH) Mobile Inpatient Care (MIC) @ Home (now renamed as SingHealth MIC @ Home) pilot since 2022, as well as Changi General Hospital (CGH), Sengkang General Hospital (SKH) and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital’s (KKH) pilots since 2023, the initiative has become a regular service in public hospitals in 2024. This new model of care allows suitable patients to receive hospital-level care at home instead of being physically admitted to the hospital. It leverages enablers such as remote clinical monitoring, and patients have 24/7 access to a care team through tele-consultations and/or home visits. We hope that this will bring patients and caregivers peace of mind as patients recover in the comfort of their own home and communities, with our support.

Cultivating solutions for patient care

With the launch of the Alice Lee Innovation Centre of Excellence (A.L.I.C.E) @ SGH Campus in September 2023, we took a leap forward in fostering an innovation ecosystem within the cluster. A.L.I.C.E @ SGH Campus is a purpose-built, living laboratory for brainstorming, prototyping and test-bedding of innovations. The Centre catalyses collaborations between clinicians, healthcare innovators and different industry partners to enable process redesign and care transformation, as well as incubates startups and spin-off companies. A.L.I.C.E @ CGH Campus was subsequently launched in April 2024, with more to come across other SingHealth campuses. (You can read more about A.L.I.C.E by clicking here)

CGH has also begun the use of autonomous mobile robots (AMR) to enhance patient care and experience at its emergency department. After completing a successful trial in August 2023, CGH is deploying these AMRs to other parts of the hospital.

Charting our path forward

Medical research stands as the cornerstone of our pursuit of progress in healthcare, driving us to explore new frontiers and revolutionising the way we approach diseases and patient care.

Dr Saumya Jamuar, Senior Consultant, Division of Medicine, and his team from KKH are using Cliniface, a 3D facial analysis software that detects signs of rare diseases—signs that the human eye might not be able to spot. Rare diseases can be difficult to identify but a software like Cliniface can help reduce likelihood of incorrect diagnoses and allow doctors to treat patients the right way.

Professor Pierce Chow, Senior Consultant Surgeon, SGH and National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), is studying the use of a combination of drugs to reduce cancer recurrence in patients with the primary liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), in a safe and effective manner. Trial results were positive and showed that cancer recurrence was decreased by one-third at the end of the first year. This trial has significant impact locally as HCC is the third most common cause of cancer deaths in males and fifth most common cause in females in Singapore.

Transforming the local healthcare landscape

I am pleased to highlight the remarkable achievements of our institutions. SGH has been ranked 11th in Newsweek’s “World Best Hospitals 2024”, the highest ranked hospital in Singapore for the fifth year running, and is also listed in Newsweek’s “World’s Best Smart Hospitals 2024”. CGH, NCCS and National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS) have been ranked in Newsweek’s “World’s Best Specialised Hospitals 2024”, with CGH and KKH also garnering spots on Newsweek’s “World Best Smart Hospitals 2024”. SingHealth, together with many of its institutions, were also part of The Straits Times' "Singapore's Best Employers 2024" for the fifth consecutive year.

We have continued with the expansion of our healthcare system with the opening of Tampines North Polyclinic as well as the upcoming Eastern General and Community hospitals (EGH Campus) in Bedok. With the EGH Campus leveraging phygital (physical + digital) technologies and innovations, it will be the first hospital in Singapore to deliver services such as virtual wards and telemedicine before the physical hospital is completed around 2029 and 2030.

The many achievements and accolades are made possible by the dedication and passion from our staff and SingHealth leadership. The Board and I would like to express our gratitude to Prof Ivy Ng for her exceptional leadership over the last 12 years. We would also like to express our heartfelt thanks to Board Member Mr Chan Yeng Kit for his unwavering dedication and contribution to the healthcare landscape as he stepped down as Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health in July 2024.

I am excited to be part of the journey ahead to pioneer change, where we remain steadfast in our commitment to put patients at the heart of all we do, powered by our exceptional SingHealth family, and work as one to shape the future of healthcare