SINGAPORE - The current three-cluster healthcare system here should not be further reviewed, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said in a speech released on Saturday (May 29).
He was laying out plans for the healthcare industry on Tuesday at the Ministry of Health (MOH) Work Plan Seminar, which was held virtually.
The last reorganisation of these clusters was announced in January 2017, with six clusters merged into three - National University Health System (NUHS), National Healthcare Group (NHG) and SingHealth.
"There are pros and cons to being big or small. Big clusters have scale and comprehensive capabilities. Small hospitals can be agile and innovative," said Mr Ong.
"We should continue with the structure that we have."
He added: "Within each cluster, we will have to find ways to make space for skunkworks, and make unorthodox ideas become mainstream. Bring out the best of both worlds."
As part of the last restructuring, three of the existing clusters in 2017 were merged with larger ones, based on location. This was completed about a year later.
MOH had said in 2017 that the reorganisation would allow public healthcare institutions to deploy their resources and capabilities more efficiently, and also offer employees a wider and deeper range of professional development opportunities.
With the change, each of the three final clusters has offered a fuller range of services, encompassing acute hospital care, primary care and community care. Each cluster has a medical school.
All three clusters are expected to grow, with NHG set to operate Woodlands Health Campus, which includes an acute hospital and a community hospital, when it opens progressively from 2023.
SingHealth will run a similar integrated facility in Bedok North from around 2030.
Meanwhile, 12 new polyclinics will be added to the current 20 by 2030. These include Bukit Panjang Polyclinic, which will open by the end of this year and be run by NUHS.
Mr Ong said that rather than spending time on reviewing the current cluster system, the ministry should press on with the three broad approaches it first laid out in 2017, called the "three beyonds" - "beyond healthcare to health", "beyond quality to value" and "beyond hospital to community".
These will help address long-term issues like rising government healthcare expenditure and heavily loaded hospitals.
Mr Ong said healthcare expenditure is set to hit $59.1 billion in 2030, up from $20.7 billion in 2018 and $10.5 billion in 2010. The 2030 figure will form about 16 per cent of the Government's yearly budget, up from 12 per cent currently.
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He was laying out plans for the healthcare industry on Tuesday at the Ministry of Health (MOH) Work Plan Seminar, which was held virtually.
The last reorganisation of these clusters was announced in January 2017, with six clusters merged into three - National University Health System (NUHS), National Healthcare Group (NHG) and SingHealth.
"There are pros and cons to being big or small. Big clusters have scale and comprehensive capabilities. Small hospitals can be agile and innovative," said Mr Ong.
"We should continue with the structure that we have."
He added: "Within each cluster, we will have to find ways to make space for skunkworks, and make unorthodox ideas become mainstream. Bring out the best of both worlds."
As part of the last restructuring, three of the existing clusters in 2017 were merged with larger ones, based on location. This was completed about a year later.
MOH had said in 2017 that the reorganisation would allow public healthcare institutions to deploy their resources and capabilities more efficiently, and also offer employees a wider and deeper range of professional development opportunities.
With the change, each of the three final clusters has offered a fuller range of services, encompassing acute hospital care, primary care and community care. Each cluster has a medical school.
All three clusters are expected to grow, with NHG set to operate Woodlands Health Campus, which includes an acute hospital and a community hospital, when it opens progressively from 2023.
SingHealth will run a similar integrated facility in Bedok North from around 2030.
Meanwhile, 12 new polyclinics will be added to the current 20 by 2030. These include Bukit Panjang Polyclinic, which will open by the end of this year and be run by NUHS.
Mr Ong said that rather than spending time on reviewing the current cluster system, the ministry should press on with the three broad approaches it first laid out in 2017, called the "three beyonds" - "beyond healthcare to health", "beyond quality to value" and "beyond hospital to community".
These will help address long-term issues like rising government healthcare expenditure and heavily loaded hospitals.
Mr Ong said healthcare expenditure is set to hit $59.1 billion in 2030, up from $20.7 billion in 2018 and $10.5 billion in 2010. The 2030 figure will form about 16 per cent of the Government's yearly budget, up from 12 per cent currently.
More...