Singapore, like many countries, is attempting to meet the growing healthcare needs of an ageing population with a high burden of chronic diseases. Despite efforts to integrate and increase healthcare… Click to show full abstract
Singapore, like many countries, is attempting to meet the growing healthcare needs of an ageing population with a high burden of chronic diseases. Despite efforts to integrate and increase healthcare capacity, longstanding challenges remain difficult to overcome. Recently, policymakers have considered a new approach to building chronic and eldercare capacity—the Integrated General Hospital (IGH). The development of the IGH model is motivated by a combination of factors: the limit to which the primary care system can manage patients with increasingly complex chronic diseases, a longstanding preference of patients for hospital-based specialty services and patients experiencing fragmented care delivery. The IGH model links hospital care teams and community-based care providers, to facilitate the management of patients throughout the care continuum in a single integrated site. It is hoped that this hospital-led model for chronic care can meet patients’ needs and preferences and reduce fragmentation of care.
               
Click one of the above tabs to view related content.