Overview
The Department of General Surgery has a distinguished history, having been established with the founding of the hospital in the 19th century.
The mission of the department is to advance surgical care, education and research in the Central Region of Singapore and beyond. We achieve this by providing a comprehensive spectrum of services, tailored towards accurate and timely diagnosis with management of all general surgical conditions in both inpatient and outpatient settings. A drive towards minimally invasive surgery has resulted in a shorter length of stay for patients, smaller surgical incisions, reduction in morbidity and complications, and overall improvement in surgical outcomes. This has allowed an increasing proportion of surgical procedures to be performed in our ambulatory surgery centre where suitable patients are not required to be admitted to the hospital following their operation and can be discharged on the same day or after a short overnight stay.
We excel in both undergraduate and postgraduate education as the primary clinical training partner for Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University and also an affiliated teaching hospital of Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. We are also a training centre for the National Healthcare Group General Surgery Residency Program and support other postgraduate programs and surgical specialties including the Surgery-in-General and Postgraduate Year 1 Residency Programmes. We are passionate about surgical education as this continues our strong tradition of ensuring high standards in the practise of the craft of Surgery.
The Department has also successfully introduced an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) program, which was initially implemented in Colorectal Surgery and subsequently in the other sub-subspecialties. We are also active in initiatives to detect and treat fraility in our elderly surgical patients to optimise them for surgery and ensuring the best post-operative outcome.
Head of Department:
Dr Tan Wei Leong, Glenn
Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS®)
ERAS® is a surgical care program that improves recovery through an evidence-based, multidisciplinary approach.
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Recovery of Surgery in the Elderly (ROSE)
Surgery demands a lot of physiological reserves from the body. Elderly patients have limited reserves to cope with the surgical stress, and this may result in slower or poorer recovery from their procedures.
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List of services
Breast and Endocrine Surgery
Our philosophy is that of a multidisciplinary approach towards the treatment of breast cancer. This ensures that patients benefit from the expertise of all the various specialities.
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Colorectal Surgery
We are a team of colorectal consultants that specialize in treating patients with benign or malignant diseases of the colon, rectum, anus, appendix and small intestine.
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Hepatopancreatobilliary Surgery
Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery team of Tan Tock Seng Hospital manages patients with diseases of the liver, pancreas, gallbladder and bile duct.
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Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery
We are offer a variety of surgical procedures performed by our team of highly trained and dedicated surgeons, covering the entire spectrum of plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery from breast surgery, craniomaxillofacial surgery, microsurgery, burns care and cosmetic treatments.
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Thoracic Surgery
The Thoracic Surgery Service at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) is dedicated to prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the lung.
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Trauma and Acute Care Surgery
The Trauma and Acute Surgery unit is responsible for the trauma programmes and surgical critical care service at TTSH.
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Upper Gastrointestinal, Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery
The Upper Gastrointestinal (GI) Unit is a subspecialty team that provides comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of all conditions affecting the oesophagus, stomach and intestines, as well as general surgical conditions.
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Vascular and Endovascular Surgery
The Vascular and Endovascular Surgery service is actively involved in managing the entire spectrum of Arterial and Venous Conditions through both minimally invasive endovascular techniques and traditional open surgery.
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