The National Healthcare Group (NHG) is a group of healthcare institutions located in Singapore. The group was formed in 2000 and operates several hospitals, national specialty centers and polyclinics. Tan Tock Seng Hospital is the largest hospital in the group and serves as the flagship hospital for the cluster.[1] As the Regional Health Manager for 1.5 million residents in Central and North Singapore, NHG collaborates with private general practices, public and community health and social care providers to keep residents well and healthy.
History
In November 1999, then-Minister for HealthLim Hng Kiang announced that Singapore's public healthcare institutions would be reorganized into two delivery networks, or clusters.[2] In October 2000, the formation of the two clusters - National Healthcare Group and SingHealth - was officially completed.[3] NHG reports that it offers accessible, continuous, economical, and wide-ranging health care service. The stated core values of the National health care group are that it's "people-centric, ethical, responsible, and has empathy toward the community and its members".[4]
Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) is one of the longest serving and largest multi-disciplinary hospitals in Singapore. Recognised as the people’s hospital, the 10,000-strong institution operates over 2,000 beds and covers more than 60 clinical disciplines. It anchors the 17-hectare HealthCity Novena, a strategic development to create an integrated community of healthcare, medical education and translational research.
Khoo Teck Puat Hospital & Yishun Community Hospital
Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) is a 795-bed general hospital in Yishun that was opened in 2010,[5] while the Yishun Community Hospital (YCH) is a 200-bed community hospital that was opened in 2015.[6] Both hospitals are grouped together as a regional health campus called Yishun Health Campus.[7][8]
Founded in 1928, the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) is a 2000-bed hospital located at the 23-hectare campus of Buangkok Green Medical Park in the northeast of Singapore. IMH offers a multidisciplinary and comprehensive range of psychiatric, rehabilitative and counselling services in both hospital and community-based settings to meet the needs of three groups of people – children and adolescents, adults, and the elderly. Besides providing patient-centred clinical services, IMH trains the current and next generation of clinicians, nurses and allied health professionals in psychiatry and conducts research related to mental health.
National Healthcare Group Polyclinics
National Healthcare Group Polyclinics is the primary healthcare arm of the NHG. It has nine polyclinics in the central and northern parts of Singapore. They provide treatment for acute medical conditions, management of chronic diseases, women and child health services and dental care, health promotion, early and accurate diagnosis, and disease management through physician led team-based care as well as enhancing the capability of Family Medicine through research and teaching.
The National Skin Centre (NSC) is an outpatient specialist dermatology center located next to Tan Tock Seng Hospital as part of the Healthcity Novena complex. It handles a patient load of about 1,000 patients daily. Incorporated on 9 June 1988, it started operations on 1 November 1988 after taking over the treatment of skin diseases from Middle Road Hospital. It provides specialized dermatological services, trains medical students and postgraduates, and undertakes research in dermatology. The center also conducts continuing medical education for doctors and paramedical personnel.
Other institutions
Apart from the provision of healthcare through healthcare institutions, the NHG also operates several other divisions in other areas such as education and ancillary health services.
NHG College
National Healthcare Group College was established on 19 July 2002 to educate, train and raise the professionalism of NHG staff. It is structured into four institutes, namely the Institute of Healthcare Leadership, Institute of Clinical Education, Institute of Healthcare Quality and the Institute of Professional Training.
NHG Diagnostics
National Healthcare Group Diagnostics (NHG Diagnostics) is a clinical shared service of the National Healthcare Group's Population Health Campus. NHG Diagnostics was founded in 2000. It provides one-stop laboratory and radiography services in primary care, supporting polyclinics, general practitioners, community hospitals, nursing homes, home care providers, and the community via its extensive network in Singapore. Services are offered at both static and mobile centres, including general X-ray, mammography, ultrasound, bone mineral densitometry, and home phlebotomy. Additionally, it provides teleradiology reporting and professional services in managing radiology and laboratory clinics.
NHG Pharmacy
NHG Pharmacy manages the pharmacy and retail pharmacies at the nine polyclinics and in retail centers, and also provides medication management services to intermediate and long term care facilities. The pharmacies also provide smoking cessation clinics, anti-coagulation clinics, and hypertension-diabetes-lipidaemia clinics led by pharmacists to control chronic diseases. NHG Pharmacy also allows patients to refill their prescriptions online, and choose to have their uncollected medicines delivered to them, or collected from a designated polyclinic.
Primary Care Academy
Established in April 2007, the Primary Care Academy provides training and skills upgrading for primary care doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and ancillary staff.
