SINGAPORE, Aug 18 — Katijah Sarjo, 80, fell from her bed and broke her hip in May. She was operated on at Changi General Hospital (CGH).
After two weeks, doctors assessed her condition as stable, but not yet fully recovered or ready to be discharged.
So the hospital transferred her to St Andrew’s Community Hospital where she spent another two weeks.
But the move made little difference to Katijah or the care she received. As far as she was concerned, she was still in hospital, and had simply been moved from one ward to another.
The reason: The two hospitals are linked by an enclosed bridge that looks very much like any hospital corridor. Plus, her doctor from CGH dropped by to see her every day throughout her recovery.
But to her family, it meant a smaller hospital bill. On average, the bill at the community hospital is about 25 per cent lower for patients on full subsidy.
This is an example of how step-down care works to keep patient costs down — as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong explained when he spoke of twinning general hospitals with community hospitals run by voluntary welfare organisations (VWO).
Community hospitals provide care for patients whose conditions have stabilised, but who are not yet well enough to go home. They have doctors and nurses to look after patients in wards and also physiotherapy and occupational therapy centres for rehabilitation.
A spokesman for CGH said in the six months till February this year, 465 of its patients benefited from this ease in moving down the health-care chain when they no longer required the intense care of a general hospital.
More than half were patients like Katijah, recovering from orthopaedic surgery. Others included patients recovering from stroke and elderly patients with chronic problems.
“Transfer is convenient as these patients are easily moved across the sheltered link bridge from CGH to St Andrew’s in a wheelchair or a hospital trolley,” the spokesman said.
Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) enjoys a similar pairing with a community hospital, run by Buddhist VWO Ren Ci. This “twinning” is fairly recent, and a bridge joining the two is yet to be built.
But patients are already benefiting from the proximity and close cooperation between the two hospitals.
A TTSH spokesman said that the hospitals sends about 50 patients a month to recuperate at the Ren Ci Hospital.
The patients’ medical records are shared so there is no need to duplicate tests, she said.
The two hospitals also work together to make it easier for patients to pay their bills.
New hospitals coming up, like the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in Yishun and the Jurong General Hospital, will also have 200-bed community hospitals next door, with bridge links. — The Straits Times
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