Dear community friends,

Alexandra Hospital celebrates its first year under the care of the National University Health System on the first of June, 2019.

It has been a hectic year. We have operationalised our five signature person-centred programmes: the Well, Fast, Chronic, Healthy Ageing, and Palliative Care Programmes. We have upgraded our wards with communal areas for engagement, set up our Urgent Care Centre, Integrated Care Clinic, Healthy Ageing Clinic, Eye Surgery Centre, Ear Nose Throat Centre, Orthopaedic Centre, Endoscopy Centre, Day Surgery and Main Operating Theatres, Clinical Measurement Centre, and diagnostic imaging and laboratory medicine services, to name a few. Through one principal doctor and one care team, we have cared for thousands of patients with what has been dubbed the “Integrated General Hospital” model, from admission to discharge and from the clinic to the community.

To better prepare our patients for home, one of our wards focuses on specialised rehabilitation for post-stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and other patients with the help of exoskeleton bionic devices. In addition, we are designing two wards of the future which will be adaptable to evolving care models, patient profiles, and technology. An example of this technology is the robotic nursing assistant which we are designing with the SG Healthcare Assistive and Robotics Programme and local industry.

We have always believed in walking with our patients and their loved ones through their health journey as we redesign healthcare with our people and our community. Many of you, including general practitioners and the primary care networks, National University Polyclinics, Fei Yue, Lions Befrienders, FaithActs, St Andrew’s Nursing Home, United Medicare Centre, Silver Generation Office, Community Networks for Seniors, Social Service Office@Queenstown – to name a few – have toiled for years to build a healthier Queenstown. We are privileged to follow your footsteps, and to develop care paths with you. Thanks to your efforts, we have narrowed the gap between healthcare and social care.

Our care managers at CareHub@AH and our community nurses have been able to expand the traditional transitional care programme for hospitals and act as a single point of contact for individuals with a host of complex medical and social issues because of reliable partners like you. In April, our A-Life Community Health Post programme completed four healthy ageing and lifestyle workshops for residents at Queenstown Community Centre, in partnership with the Active Ageing Committee. This will be followed by a comprehensive screening and “Prescriptive Plan” programme for functional decline, chronic diseases, cancer, and vaccinations, which we will run with many of you. We will also be rolling out the Geriatric Service Hub which acts as a satellite mobile clinic to better serve the elderly at community touchpoints. We are also heartened to have welcomed in our midst “Alex Advocates” who not only volunteer in the wards, but also serve as resource persons whom we turn to for ideas on enhancing patient experience, patient activation, hospital design.

Queenstown is one of Singapore’s oldest housing estates. About 20% of its residents are 65 years and older, and many of them continue to suffer from multiple chronic diseases. There is so much more we can do together for them. Thank you for all your support over the past 12 months. We are still “young” and we continue to learn from you. Please feel free to contact me at jason_phua@nuhs.edu.sg if you feel there is something we can do better, or if there is anything we can help with.

We look forward to many more years of friendship.

Sincerely,
Jason Phua
CEO, AH