SINGAPORE: The Health Ministry will scale up a pilot scheme to encourage more general practitioners to embark on team-based care.
Minister of State for Health Lam Pin Min made the announcement during his ministry’s Committee of Supply debate in Parliament on Thursday (Mar 9).
The Primary Care Network (PCN) scheme was piloted in 2012, and is made up of GPs who are organised into virtual networks, explained Dr Lam. They deliver care through a multi-disciplinary team of doctors and nurses, to manage patients’ needs more holistically and effectively.
For example, patients can benefit from nurse counsellors who can provide individualised advice, and diabetic patients can access diabetic foot and eye screening services more conveniently at the clinics in the network.
GPs participating in the scheme will get funding and administrative support from MOH to implement team-based care, to better track the care outcomes and monitor patients more closely, he said. Funding support will also be available to enable GPs to better care for patients with complex chronic conditions like diabetes.
Dr Lam added that GPs will also have greater scale to link up with community providers through PCNs. Care coordinators would be able to spend more time evaluating care needs holistically and refer these patients to appropriate channels of social assistance like voluntary welfare organisations or the Ministry of Social and Family Development’s Social Service Offices.
“The team-based arrangement will also facilitate like-minded GPs in cross-sharing and peer learning of best practices across PCNs,” he added.
The scaling up of the PCN scheme is part of the ministry’s overall push to strengthen its primary and community care services.
“Primary care is the bedrock of our healthcare system, and the key to enabling the shift to bring healthcare beyond hospitals into the community,” said Dr Lam. “It is an integral component in our transformative efforts to bring patient-focussed care closer to home.”
MOH will be launching the PCN application call on Apr 1 for two months, said Dr Lam, and interested GPs are encouraged to participate.
MORE PRIMARY CARE FACILITIES TO OPEN THIS YEAR
In line with the increased focus on primary care, MOH will open more primary care facilities like polyclinics and family medicine clinics.
The Punggol and Pioneer Polyclinics will open this year, as well as the re-developed Bedok Polyclinic. Two Family Medicine Clinics – in Keat Hong and Tampines – will also open this year. These clinics are managed by a group of GPs working together with other healthcare professionals to provide team-based care for patients with chronic diseases.
Dr Lam added that the Yishun and Ang Mo Kio polyclinics will be re-developed in 2018, and MOH is on track to operationalise new polyclinics in Bukit Panjang, Eunos and Sembawang by 2020.
MOH will also build a new polyclinic in the Kallang/Balestier area which is expected to be operational by 2020.