Working closely with key healthcare providers in Singapore, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) has awarded twelve consortia under its Call for Collaboration (CFC) to develop healthcare services and solutions to bring about an integrated and patient-centric healthcare sector.
Singapore, 31 May 2006 | For Immediate Release
Twelve Consortia Awarded Under the IDA's Healthcare Call for Collaboration
Working closely with key healthcare providers in Singapore, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) has awarded twelve consortia under its Call for Collaboration (CFC) to develop healthcare services and solutions to bring about an integrated and patient-centric healthcare sector. This is part of the efforts to fulfil the vision for the healthcare and biomedical sciences sector under the Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015), IDA's 10 year infocomm masterplan for Singapore. The iN2015 goal for the healthcare sector is to accelerate the sectoral transformation through ICT-enabled personalised healthcare delivery system to achieve high quality clinical care, service excellence, cost-effectiveness and strong clinical research.
Added Mr Chan Yeng Kit, Chief Executive Officer, IDA, "The healthcare sector is not only a potential growth engine for Singapore. It is also an area that concerns all Singaporeans. IDA will be working with the Health Ministry and the healthcare providers to realise our iN2015 vision of personalised healthcare delivery to all Singaporeans, powered by infocomm."
Innovative solutions and services for the healthcare industry Launched in September last year, the CFC has resulted in 10 infocomm solution providers coming on board to co-develop and trial technologies with twelve healthcare institutions. The healthcare institutions come from the 2 public clusters, National Healthcare Group (NHG) and Singapore Health Services (SingHealth), Parkway Hospitals and Ang Mo Kio - Thye Hua Kwan Hospital, a Volunteer Welfare Organisation. With a total funding of S$3 million, the CFC is expected to generate a total spending of S$12 million by the industry.
Focusing right from the start to meet the needs of the participating healthcare institutions, the pilot projects include the development of innovative solutions to enhance patient care and safety by using wireless measurement of critical vital signs (temperature, blood pressure, ECG and pulse rate) and wireless fall detection devices, amongst others.
In another pilot project, the nursing workflow and patient identification are automated through RFID technology, resulting in enhanced safety in medication for patients. This pilot also has the potential for information sharing between community hospitals, acute hospitals and nursing homes to allow for better management of medication usage for the elderly patients.
On the home front, a consortium will be piloting with selected high-risk cardiac patients the use of portable wireless heart monitoring patch. The patch will allow continuous monitoring of the patients' progress upon their discharge from the hospital via a remote call center manned by heart specialists.
On the hospitals' front, through the various pilot projects, they can look forward to improved efficiency and reduction of wastage through optimisation and effective scheduling of operating theatre resources with the use of ICT.
Commenting on the pilot projects, Ms Lim Bee Kwan, Director of IDA's Healthcare & Social Cluster, said "These ICT solutions and services will further push the frontier of ICT innovations in the healthcare sector. We hope that these ICT innovations will generate more buzz for the healthcare industry, and lead to greater interest from overseas for solutions from our local ICT sector."
For a list of the consortia and the brief highlight of the projects, please refer to Annex A.
Quotes From the Four Healthcare Providers
Ms Ling Bee Sian, Chief Operating Officer, Ang Mo Kio - Thye Hua Kwan Hospital
"Ang Mo Kio - Thye Hua Kwan Hospital and our consortium partner, Y3 Technologies are excited to undertake the Geriatric Nursing Record Exchange (GINX) project. This is the first local information system about medications designed specially for nursing staff.
Being a leading geriatric care organisation, we have to be innovative and keep on looking for new ways to provide better and more efficient services at our wards. At the industry level, we hope over time to have accurate indexing of our patient records. Our hospital will then be better equipped to serve and support the national healthcare initiatives of providing good geriatric care to our ageing population."
Mr Linus Tham, Chief Information Officer, National Healthcare Group
"These projects will enable us to make better use of IT - communication between care providers (including doctors and nurses) can be made more efficient and effective; valuable resources such as manpower (doctors and nurses) and facilities (Operating Theatres) can be better optimised; and clinical documentation can be further improved. This ultimately translates to better care and service to our patients."
Dr Kenneth Thean, General Manager, Parkway Hospitals Singapore
"As one of our very initiatives is to improve patient safety, the project with Parkway Hospitals will use the latest wireless mobile technology to constantly monitor and present patient data. We feel that by giving our nurses easy access to real-time, they will be able to immediately attend to any patient emergencies, thus increasing clinical safety and deliver, at the same time, a better experience for our customers.",
Mr Fong Choon Khin, Group Chief Technology Officer, SingHealth
"As a trusted leader in healthcare, SingHealth strives to provide the most appropriate level of care to our patients, ensuring that they receive the top quality care they deserve. In doing so, we recognise the importance of technology as a catalyst and an enabler. It is for these reasons that SingHealth looks forward to being part of this endeavour with IDA. I believe that the projects we will be piloting will not only help to improve patient safety and experience, but they will also change the way healthcare professionals interact with their patients, allowing for more time to communicate and get to know their patients to serve them better."
Please refer to Annex B for more quotes from the respective healthcare institutions under the National Healthcare Group and SingHealth Group that are involved in the specific pilot projects.
ISSUED BY CORPORATE & MARKETING COMMUNICATION DIVISION
INFOCOMM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE
About Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is committed to growing Singapore into a dynamic global infocomm hub. IDA uses an integrated approach to developing infocommunications in Singapore. This involves nurturing a competitive telecoms market as well as a conducive business environment with programmes and schemes for both local and international companies.For more news and information, visit https://www.imda.gov.sg/.
For media clarification, please contact:
Jenny NG (Ms)
Senior Manager, Corporate & Marketing Communication
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
Tel: 6211-1341
Fax : 6211-2227
Email: jenny_ng@imda.gov.sg
| Annexes | |
|---|---|
| Title | Date of Issue |
| Annex A : List of Projects by the 12 Consortia (17.73KB) | 31 May 06 |
| Annex B : Quotes from the Various Healthcare Institutions under the National Healthcare Group (NHG) (26.27KB) | 31 May 06 |
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