Healthcare hub to be built in central district

SINGAPORE — Come 2030, Novena will boast a 17-hectare integrated healthcare hub built around Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), which will encompass health services, research and education, commercial, leisure and public spaces.

Called Health City Novena, the development — spearheaded by TTSH, the National Healthcare Group (NHG) and the Health Ministry — will serve as the healthcare anchor for the Central Singapore district and link up healthcare facilities to offer acute, intermediate and long-term care.

More resources will be channelled to intermediate care — which includes rehabilitation, sub-acute care and palliative care — to facilitate the transition of patients back to the community.

On the cards is an Integrated Intermediate Care Hub comprising Dover Park Hospice and a proposed second community hospital for patients who need step-down care.

Launching the masterplan yesterday, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong noted the increasingly complex healthcare needs of an ageing population. “The population of seniors age 65 and above in the (Central Singapore) region is around 15 per cent, compared to the national average of 10 per cent,” he added.

When completed in 2030, Health City will increase healthcare-related space in the area by 150 per cent. Its total bed capacity is expected to increase by 12 per cent for acute care and 60 per cent for intermediate step-down care.

This means that for every 10 acute beds, the number of step-down beds in Health City will increase from four to six. “This facilitates patients’ transition back to the community,” Mr Gan said.

The first phase of construction is targeted for completion between 2018 and 2020. When the second phase is completed in 2030, some 30,000 people — patients, staff and visitors — are expected to pass through the premises daily.

Currently, TTSH sees 15,000 people passing through every day.

Mr Gan said effort will be made to make moving from one part of Health City to another easy, safe and pleasant through a network of walkways, bridges, roads and interconnected basement carparks.

Professor Chee Yam Cheng, NHG’s Group CEO, added that the billing system should be integrated throughout the various facilities to make the process a seamless one for patients.

Also part of Health City is the new National Centre for Infectious Diseases. It will also collaborate with the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine on research.