The pharmacy and patient waiting area at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital Ang Mo Kio Specialist Centre.
Her travel time for a check-up is halved, and she can now better manage her condition
The Straits Times (19 March 2022)
It now takes about half the time it used to for Madam Low Hong Eng, 67, to head for a routine diabetes check-up.
The newly launched Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH)
Ang Mo Kio Specialist Centre in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8 is closer to her Hougang home than the hospital in Novena. The centre, launched yesterday, will bring specialist care to the heartland.
The trip for the check-up, which used to be up to 50 minutes depending on traffic conditions, now takes about 25 minutes for Madam Low and her husband Lim Jit Suan, 73, her main caregiver.
He accompanies her on all visits to the hospital or clinics. At the Ang Mo Kio centre, the clinical diabetes educators advise Madam Low, a retiree who did administrative work previously, on the types of food that are good for her as well as those to avoid, said Mr Lim, a retired bank associate. He added: "They also showed us new equipment that is hooked to her arm and, with a meter, she could see her sugar level any time. This enabled her to monitor her diet and food consumption carefully."
The clinical diabetes educators at the centre are trained specially in diabetes care as well as patient education. This makes it possible for patients to better manage their condition with fewer consultations – from perhaps more than eight yearly hospital visits to three to five visits to the Ang Mo Kio centre, said TTSH.
The centre’s eye diagnostic service room. The community eye clinic will manage chronic conditions and conduct visual acuity and eye diagnostic tests. ST PHOTOS: GAVIN FOO
The centre also has a community eye clinic, which allows for faster appointments, and a portable audiometry system that provides quicker access to testing, detection and intervention for hearing issues.
The new centre also allows for direct referrals from general practitioners (GPs) to the services offered at the facility. Dr Lim Kim Show, a GP at Life Family Clinic in Ang Mo Kio, has referred his patients to the centre for integrated musculoskeletal therapy services – needed for conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome or osteoarthritis knee pain.
"Getting early intervention for such conditions makes a big difference in patients’ recovery. This direct referral process can cut down waiting time by more than a month, which means they get treatment that much faster," he added. The waiting time is now two to three weeks.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (middle) at the official opening of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital Ang Mo Kio Specialist Centre. With him are (from left) Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Central Health Medical Board chairman Chin Jing Jih, Senior Minister of State for Health Koh Poh Koon, National Healthcare Group chairman Tan Tee How and TTSH and Central Health CEO Eugene Fidelis Soh.
GPs can also make direct referrals to the endoscopy team at the centre, which has facilities for basic diagnostic procedures like gastroscopy that require day surgery.
The centre will also offer better social care. TTSH’s community health team will work with the neighbourhood Silver Generation Office, the outreach arm of the Agency for Integrated Care, to identify and reach out to residents in need and plan communitybased programmes such as wellness or health coaching.
Services at new specialist centre
Diabetes Care
Specially trained clinical diabetes educators will carry out various aspects of diabetes care and patient education, reducing the number of yearly visits required.
Eye Care
The community eye clinic will manage chronic conditions such as blurring of vision, redness and suspected glaucoma, a condition where high fluid pressure in the eyeball damages the optic nerve, which can lead to blindness. The team can also conduct visual acuity and eye diagnostic tests.
Care of Hearing issues
The centre will offer specialist and basic hearing examinations as well as hearing aid interventions. A portable audiometry system will allow for better access to testing, resulting in faster detection and intervention of hearing issues.
Integrated Musculoskeletal Therapy
Patients with conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome – which causes pain and numbness in the wrist – and osteoarthritis knee pain can be referred by general practitioners to therapists at the centre, instead of seeing a hospital specialist before being referred.
Day Surgery Centre
Operating suites and a recovery room are available. Patients can undergo basic diagnostic endoscopic procedures such as a colonoscopy, which is used to detect changes or abnormalities in the large intestine and rectum, or a gastroscopy, which looks inside the oesophagus, stomach and first part of the small intestine.
Map of AMKSC
