The Woodlands Health Campus integrates an acute hospital, community hospital and a nursing home, with Mr Lee noting how it “consolidates a comprehensive suite of services in a single location”.
“The campus will not only offer the usual services (management of acute emergencies, rehabilitation, and recovery), but it will also provide long-term care services – including day care, home care, nursing care and palliative care,” he said.
“This makes it much easier to right-site patients and also a lot more convenient for patients to transition seamlessly from treatment to convalescence, and to receive the appropriate care in one place.”
It has also been set up to treat increasingly prevalent conditions among young people, including obesity, hypertension and chronic kidney disease, he added.
Some facilities at Woodlands Health make use of technology in a bid to bolster operational efficiency, as well as to offer an improved patient care and caregiver experience.
These include an automated pharmacy that shortens the time patients have to wait when collecting their medicine and the use of patient bedside terminals.
Mr Lee noted how nurses traditionally relay information to patients in person, briefing them on matters like their medical condition and test results.
“As a result, patients have limited opportunities to engage actively in their own care plan and to stay updated on their recovery progress,” he said.
“With the (patient bedside) terminals, patients can access the care plan for their stay themselves, their vital signs charts, and educational resources relevant to their condition … and participate more actively in their recovery journey.”
Mr Lee touched on how patients can not only order their preferred meals but also watch YouTube videos via the terminals, and that the hospital had begun to deliver healthcare in the community through its WH@Home programme.
First launched in April 2022, it offers patients the option to be cared for in their own homes instead of a hospital ward.
The Senior Minister also joked how people often have a “perception that hospital food is bland and tasteless”.
But after sampling a few dishes from the in-patient menu like mutton vindaloo, and that other “interesting choices” like Thai green curry and Irish beef stew had caught his eye, he quipped this is “certainly not your typical hospital fare”.
