A local cast, including staff of Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), putting on a musical at the hospital’s 180th anniversary bash on July 19 at Capitol Theatre. The musical was
inspired by real-life stories about TTSH and its staff’s dedication to improving the healthcare landscape in Singapore. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
The Straits Times (20 July 2024)
With growing numbers of seniors visiting its busy emergency department (ED), Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) said a key priority is to look out for frail, senior patients, some of whom are at risk of readmission after they have been discharged.
These patients, aged 65 and above, are flagged to the hospital’s geriatric team so that they can receive help to better manage their symptoms.
This helps them lead better lives and stay out of hospital as much as possible.
Frailty is a common geriatric syndrome characterised by diminished strength, endurance and physiologic reserves.
The hospital’s chief executive, Dr Tang Kong Choong, told The Straits Times ahead of celebrations to mark its 180th anniversary that TTSH has made a concerted effort to ensure that staff know to direct attention and care to the frail and elderly as Singapore rapidly ages.
TTSH ramped up efforts to detect frail, senior patients in its ED in 2022, following disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in previous years.
At the hospital’s 180th anniversary bash on July 19 at Capitol Theatre, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said that TTSH has always been a people’s hospital.
“It was started by the community and has remained faithful to its founding ethos of being close to the community and caring for the community,” said President Tharman.
TTSH was founded as the Chinese Pauper Hospital in 1844 by philanthropist Tan Tock Seng, who had a deep desire to help the sick and poor.
Today, it is one of the largest tertiary hospitals in Singapore, with 1,400 acute care beds. It is also home to Singapore’s busiest ED.
In 2023, about 43 per cent of the 134,000 ED attendances involved patients who were 65 and over, up from 41 per cent in 2022.
Half of the patients in this age group are likely to have some level of frailty.
Patients within that age group also accounted for nearly 62.8 per cent of TTSH’s total admissions in 2023, up from 61.6 per cent in 2022.
Their readmission numbers have also risen.
Data provided by TTSH showed that, in 2023, some 11.8 per cent of TTSH inpatients aged 65 and above were admitted to the hospital more than twice in a year.
In 2022, the figure was 11.1 per cent, and in 2021, it was 9.8 per cent.
Dr Tang said that TTSH not only addresses the primary conditions of elderly patients, but also extends care to their overall well-being, such as looking into the patients’ nutrition and oral health, if needed.
“That has helped us to anticipate their needs and address them earlier and... try to reduce their length of stay in the hospital,” said Dr Tang.
The hospital works on the discharge plan early in the admission process to make sure the patient has home care arrangements.
TTSH is surrounded by mature housing estates such as Ang Mo Kio and Toa Payoh, where the proportion of senior residents aged 65 and above is higher than the national average of some 17 per cent, reaching 24.3 per cent in Ang Mo Kio and 21.7 per cent in Toa Payoh.
“The whole journey for us, in terms of managing frail and old patients, began years ago... So, we have been preparing ourselves,” said Dr Tang, alluding to TTSH’s work in geriatric medicine, which focuses on providing care for the unique health needs of seniors.
Singapore’s first geriatric medicine department was set up in TTSH 36 years ago at the end of 1988, when the country realised that its demographic situation was changing profoundly.
Looking ahead, the hospital is not just focusing on better care for frail, senior patients, but also looking at pioneering new ways of care.
TTSH said on July 19 that it will mark its 180th anniversary by setting up a new Health For Generations fund that aims to raise $18 million over five years to support developments in key areas such as innovation and preventive healthcare, as well as population health research projects.
Dr Tang said that the hospital hopes to soon start Health4All@Toa Payoh – a project that will enrol and track 4,000 Toa Payoh residents aged 35 to 70 over five years to understand the psycho-social and environmental factors influencing their health.
Mr Tharman mentioned the fund in his speech, saying that the results will hopefully lead to personalised solutions for improved health literacy and self-care, with community support.
