Presenter(s):

Chien Earn Lee; Low Lian Leng; Tan Khai Teng; Michelle Kee Mong; Lim Peck Seah , SingHealth, Singapore

Abstract

SingHealth as the population health manager of Eastern Singapore is accountable for the health outcomes of 1.5 million residents. We have developed a vibrant regional health ecosystem with government agencies and community partners that enables health-social integration as well as physical-digital integration. We have also adopted primary healthcare’s system-wide, whole of society approach to serve residents within the real world in which they live, work and play. Our approach is anchored on Health-Up! SingHealth’s signature preventive health movement which empowers our residents to take ownership of their health journey. We organise with our partners age-appropriate screening (including functional screening) and followup with both clinical and lifestyle interventions to address the medical and wider determinants of health. We have also organised ourselves into 15 precincts, each with one or more communities of care that are served by our place-based integrated community care teams. The key components of this team are the primary care provider, community nurse, well-being coordinator and community partners. As they are embedded within their respective communities and serve residents across their life-course with a person-centred rather than programmatic approach, they develop a deep understanding of the needs and aspirations of our residents with the flexibility for local customization to harness the self-organizing and sense-making capacities of local agents.

Our Community Ageing in Place Ecosystem (CAPE) currently piloted in two communities builds on our study on Life-Space in the elderly and brings the above initiatives together under three pillars ie Health-Social Integration, Enhancing the Built Environment to be aged-friendly and enabled by Technology. Our vision is to enable senior to be healthy, empowered and active in their familiar neighbourhood. As our residents’ needs and environment are dynamic, we recognise the need to continuously learn and improve. We have thus collaborated with community partners, residents, academia and government agencies to set up Healthy, Empowered, Active Living (HEAL) Labs as conducive ecosystems for accelerated implementation and scaling of innovative population health interventions and models

In tandem with our national Healthier Singapore strategy which was launched in 2023, we have seen improvements in preventive care (eg adult immunisations and screening) and chronic disease management. Complemented by our national Age Well Singapore strategy which was launched in 2024, involving the Ministries of Health, Transport and National Development, we are also making strides to make healthy ageing a reality in Singapore

Bio(s):

Prof Lee, a Public Health physician by training, is currently the Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer, Regional Health System, SingHealth that seeks to enable the population in Eastern Singapore to keep well, get well and live well. He also Chairs the Planning Committee for the upcoming Eastern General and Community Hospitals. He was previously the Chief Executive Officer of Changi General Hospital, a 1000 bed acute teaching hospital. Prior appointments included senior leadership positions in the Ministry of Health Singapore where he was involved in the strategic development and improvement of healthcare services as well as health regulation and finance.

Prof Lee is currently a Clinical Professor with the Duke-NUS Medical School and Adjunct Professor in the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, and the Singapore University of Technology and Design. He was also a member of international committees such as International Steering Committee, WHO Collaborating Centre for Patient Safety; Steering Committee, Asia-Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; Joint Commission International Standards Advisory Panel.

Prof Lee co-edited Singapore’s Health Care System: What 50 Years Have Achieved (2015) and contributed the chapter on Strategies for Health Services in the Oxford Textbook of Global Public Health (6th edition).