17 January 2008
Redefining healthcare quality at international conference
- Healthcare professionals and administrators gather in Singapore to share new developments and best practices

Singapore, 17 January 2008 - Enhancing patient safety. Strengthening clinical governance. Creating a digital hospital.

These are just some of the many complex and critical issues that professionals in the healthcare industry grapple with in their day-to-day work. Continuously driven by the impetus to renew their knowledge, these professionals now have an opportunity to pick the brains of and exchange ideas with fellow contemporaries on best practices in healthcare.

International healthcare quality conference held in Singapore for first time

More than 600 participants are attending the Second International Conference of the Asia Pacific Society for Healthcare Quality, held in Singapore for the first time from 17 to 19 January 2008. Hailing from more than 20 countries mainly in Asia, these delegates include national health policy leaders and decision-makers, academia, healthcare professionals in all disciplines, hospital administrators, as well as accreditation and consumer organisations.

Organised by SingHealth, Singapore’s largest public healthcare group, the conference has drawn leading local and international experts in quality and safety of healthcare, who share experiences and challenges faced in their fields. With the overall theme of “Redefining Quality in Healthcare”, these speakers will address a wide range of topics including patient safety, innovations in quality, infection control, chronic disease management, certification and accreditation, clinical governance and performance management, all with a focus on the Asian region.

Meeting of great minds on healthcare quality

The three-day conference is packed full with three workshops, five plenary sessions, and 15 symposiums with 48 presentations. In addition, the conference also attracted the submission of close to 200 posters from local and international participants that will vie for the three Best Poster Awards, to be presented at the end of the conference.

“We are encouraged by the positive response and high participation rate, even though this conference is only in its second run. The quality of the presentations and poster abstracts we have received is highly commendable. So we trust that the delegates will find attending this conference an enriching experience, with many opportunities to learn new developments and exchange ideas on best practices in healthcare quality,” said Associate Professor Chan Yew Weng, Chairperson of the conference’s Organising Committee. He is also Senior Consultant Anaesthesiologist at the Singapore General Hospital.

“Healthcare delivery is immensely complex, and I believe that quality can only be achieved if we as healthcare professionals specifically work on it. There is a saying by Dr Kaoru Ishikawa, a great Japanese management thinker, that “Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of an intelligent effort”. With this meeting of great minds who are passionate about quality, I hope everyone will go home equipped with new ideas for improvement and also be refreshed in their own quality journey,” said Professor Seto Wing Hong, President of the Asia Pacific Society for Healthcare Quality, and who sits on the advisory panel of the conference.

Opening ceremony addresses changing healthcare models and reputation management of healthcare organisations

The conference got off to a rousing start at the opening ceremony this morning, with a lively Lion Dance (a traditional dance form in Chinese culture) welcoming the Guest-of-Honour, Mr Khaw Boon Wan, Minister for Health of Singapore.

Madam Halimah Yacob, Member of Parliament for Jurong Group Representation Constituency and Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health, then delivered the keynote address on “Healthcare: A Changing Social Contract”. She painted a picture of how factors like an ageing population and rising healthcare costs would change a country’s healthcare model, as well as the challenges in effectively allocating resources to healthcare.

Following that, Professor Tan Ser Kiat, Group Chief Executive Officer of SingHealth, kicked off the first plenary session with the topic “Building Brand and Trust”, which explored the elements that make a healthcare organisation outstanding and a preferred choice for patients.

For updated information on the Second International Conference of the Asia Pacific Society for Healthcare Quality, please visit http://www.apshq08.com 

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Annex

Abstracts of key presentations at Opening Ceremony

Keynote Address: “Healthcare: A Changing Social Contract”
Madam Halimah Yacob
Member of Parliament, Jurong Group Representation Constituency, Singapore
Chairman, Government Parliamentary Committee for Health, Singapore

Of all the services that a country provides, healthcare presents the greatest challenge. It is almost universally accepted that market forces alone cannot dictate the provision of this service because patients suffer from information asymmetry and also because while healthcare is an expenditure, it is also a country’s investment in the future and in providing an enabling environment for people to work, live and play.

Some countries provide a national healthcare system while others have opted for more private insurance coverage. Whatever the financing mix, ageing populations, rising healthcare costs and the erosion of the traditional employer-based social contract, have resulted in a re-examination of existing models with a greater shift towards personal responsibility.

The crux of the challenge is that resources are finite. More resources into healthcare means that there is less for other developments. On the other hand, individuals’ capacity to absorb more is also limited particularly as many countries are now experiencing great income disparities.

Under the 3”M” system (Medisave, Medishield, Medifund), Singapore’s healthcare system presents a hybrid; a strong dose of personal responsibility while the state continues to subsidise needy cases. Our system is also undergoing many changes, fuelled by the same global factors impacting other countries. The most recent announcement is means testing for public sector hospitals for better off patients. The raison d’etre is to ensure more effective allocation of resources to the needy, not an unacceptable reason, but the real challenge lies in the implementation.

Plenary 1 – “Building Brand and Trust”
Prof Tan Ser Kiat
Group Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Health Services
Chief Executive Officer, Singapore General Hospital

The thrust of healthcare quality is essentially to ensure that safety and superior outcomes are consistently delivered. It is fundamental for healthcare organisations to have the people, systems and processes in place to facilitate this.

However, what distinguishes outstanding institutions is their ability to ensure Consistency, Reliability, Safety and Quality across the whole organisation.

Institutions that are able to achieve this inevitably enjoy the reputation as the preferred choice for patients, although a good brand is never an end-point in itself. Trust, at a ground level, is often dependant on the provider-patient relationship and can only be built if the institution has professionals of high competence and integrity. Therefore, great organisations seek out and build up people with a passion for excellence and the compassion to serve.

For media enquiries and interviews, please contact:

Ms Ong Shao Ying
Corporate Communications
Singapore Health Services
DID:    6557 4913
Email:  ong.shao.ying@singhealth.com.sg 

About Asia Pacific Society for Healthcare Quality (APSHQ)
亚太医疗品质学会

Established in 2000, APSHQ is made up of individual and organisational healthcare professionals dedicated to the ongoing development, advancement, and promotion of healthcare quality in Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific region. This is done through providing and facilitating opportunities for the acquisition and application of knowledge that support quality performance in healthcare services.

About Singapore Health Services (SingHealth)
新加坡保健服务集团

SingHealth is the largest healthcare group in Singapore, offering a complete range of multi-disciplinary and integrated medical care. The group consists of 3 Hospitals, 5 National Specialty Centres, and a network of 9 polyclinics. We have a faculty of internationally qualified medical specialists and are also well equipped with advanced diagnostic and treatment medical technology. We are dedicated to providing quality healthcare that is affordable and accessible to our patients. Through clinical excellence, commitment, and collaboration, we aim to be the trusted leader in healthcare for our patients, partners, staff and the community.

Members of the SingHealth group:

Hospitals:
Changi General Hospital, KK Women's and Children's Hospital and Singapore General Hospital

National Specialty Centres:
National Cancer Centre Singapore, National Dental Centre, National Heart Centre Singapore, National Neuroscience Institute, and Singapore National Eye Centre

SingHealth Polyclinics:
Bedok, Bukit Merah, Geylang, Marine Parade, Outram, Pasir Ris, Queenstown, Sengkang and Tampines