Primary Healthcare Services
Primary care is the foundation of our healthcare system. As the first line of care in the community, our primary care professionals are often the first point of contact with patients. They provide holistic and personalised care for patients of different age groups. They treat acute conditions such as upper respiratory tract infections, manage chronic illnesses such as diabetes, and keep the population healthy through preventive measures such as targeted health screening. They also help to coordinate patients' care with other providers and help patients who require more specialised medical attention to navigate the healthcare system.
In Singapore, primary care is provided through an island-wide network of outpatient polyclinics and clinics run by private general practitioners (GPs). There are currently 23 polyclinics and about 1,800 GP clinics.
GP Clinics:
- There are about 1,800 GP clinics, which meet about 80% of the total primary care demand. These range from solo practices to medium and large corporate groups. In recent years, MOH has been working more closely with GPs to ensure that Singaporeans have access to affordable and quality healthcare in the community. This is aligned with the key principles of Family Medicine and the role of the Family Physician as the life-long health partner of patients, for preventive, acute and chronic care.
- To enable patients to enjoy better chronic disease management, and support GPs in providing holistic and team-based chronic care for patients in the community, MOH has developed Community Health Centres (CHCs) since 2010, which provide support services to help GPs better manage common chronic diseases. From 2013, Family Medicine Clinics (FMCs) have also been developed as a new private GP model to provide medical care with support services under one roof for chronic disease management. More recently, MOH has also launched the Primary Care Networks (PCN) scheme to anchor effective chronic disease management in primary care through the organisation of like-minded GPs into a network. Click here for more information on PCN. Click here for more information on healthcare schemes and subsidies (including primary care).
Polyclinics
As ‘one-stop’ healthcare centres, the 23 polyclinics are located throughout the country, and provide subsidised primary care, which includes primary medical treatment, preventive healthcare and health education. Common primary care services include:
- Outpatient medical treatment
- Medical follow-ups after discharge from hospital
- Maternal and child health
- Immunisation
- Health screening and education
- Diagnostic and pharmaceutical services
SINGAPORE'S HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
The Ministry of Health (MOH) believes in ensuring quality and affordable basic medical services for all. Singapore’s healthcare system is designed to ensure that everyone has access to different levels of healthcare in a timely, cost-effective and seamless manner.
MOH and its statutory boards are responsible for regulating Singapore’s healthcare system. All Healthcare facilities such as hospitals, medical centres, community health centres, nursing homes, clinics (including dental clinics), and clinical laboratories (including x-ray laboratories) are required to apply for licence under the Private Hospitals & Medical Clinics (PHMC) Act/Regulations. All Healthcare facilities are also required to maintain a good standard of medical / clinical services under PHMC Act/Regulations.
The Ministry continuously works to shape the future of healthcare in Singapore and actively promotes healthy living and preventive health programmes as well as high standards of living, clean water and hygiene to achieve better health for all.
CHAS Scheme
The Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) enables all Singapore Citizens, including and Merdeka Generation (MG) and Pioneer Generation (PG) cardholders, to receive subsidies for medical and/or dental care at participating General Practitioner (GP) and dental clinics.
Besides subsidies for care at CHAS clinics, CHAS, MG and PG cardholders enjoy subsidised referrals to public Specialist Outpatient Clinics (SOCs), as well as subsidised referrals to the National Dental Centre Singapore and National University Centre for Oral Health Singapore*, if required:
- For patients with chronic conditions, CHAS complements the Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP), which allows for MediSave to be used for outpatient treatment (for the same set of chronic conditions) covered under CHAS. Besides enjoying CHAS subsidies for the treatment of their chronic conditions, patients can also tap on their MediSave to defray part of the cost of these treatments. Please click here for more information.
- Patients who seek treatment for their chronic conditions at CHAS GP clinics can also receive subsidised rates for healthcare services such as Diabetic Foot Screening (DFS), Diabetic Retinal Photography (DRP) and nurse counselling at Community Health Centres (CHCs) and Primary Care Network (PCN) clinics. Please click here to learn more.
- Patients are encouraged to check with their doctor or dentist on the likely fees that they will be charged prior to consultation as the treatment might vary according to each patient's condition. More details on the CHAS subsidy rates are available here.
REORGANISATION OF HEALTHCARE SYSTEM INTO THREE INTEGRATED CLUSTERS TO BETTER MEET FUTURE HEALTHCARE NEEDS
The Ministry of Health (MOH) will reorganise the public healthcare system into three integrated clusters to better meet Singaporeans’ future healthcare needs.
The three integrated clusters formed will be as follows. The list of the institutions within each cluster can be found in Annex A:
- Central region – National Healthcare Group (NHG) and Alexandra Health System (AHS) will be merged.
- Eastern region – Singapore Health Services (SingHealth) and Eastern Health Alliance (EHA) will be merged.
- Western region – National University Health System (NUHS) and Jurong Health Services (JurongHealth) will be merged.
The polyclinics will also be reorganised, in line with the three new clusters. The National University Polyclinics group will be formed under NUHS, joining SingHealth Polyclinics and NHG Polyclinics as Singapore’s third polyclinic group.
SingHealth Polyclinics
Eastern region – Singapore Health Services (SingHealth)
At SingHealth Polyclinics, we are committed to working with our patients to continually improve care. Patients who are informed about their conditions and actively engaged in their care benefit most from this partnership. We are pleased to present clinical indicators that track a range of conditions commonly managed at our Polyclinics. We hope that patients will be encouraged that many do well, and also find the accompanying information on their conditions useful.
As part of a wider community of healthcare providers who are continually innovating to improve care delivery, we hope that our clinical indicators will be of interest, and welcome input from other organisations that share our passion for patient care.
SingHealth Polyclinics comprises a network of nine polyclinics:
