Healthcare IT means more than simply computerising records - it means getting the right information to the right people, all the time. This was what Ms Yong Ying-I, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health (MOH) said at the recent Healthcare IT Innovation Week (1-9 February 2007). "The information required by a General Practitioner (GP) is not the same as what a Specialist at a hospital will need," Ms Yong explained.

Ms Yong Ying-I, Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Health, explains how the nation's vision of One Singaporean, One Family Physician, One Medical Record would rely critically on an integrated IT backbone

Currently, health records of Singaporeans are only linked only at public hospitals. However, MOH and the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) are taking steps to ensure that electronic medical records provide the right information to the right people. The two agencies will work together to establish a national IT backbone for all hospitals and GP clinics to tap into and access medical records.

The aim of the nationwide initiative is to improve long term care since a family doctor will now know exactly what a patient has gone through in the hospital. The system is part of the Health Ministry's vision of One Singaporean, One Family Physician, One Electronic Medical Record. To ensure that it makes sense to those who need it, doctors and clinicians will be closely involved in developing the system.

The clinicians themselves must feel ownership for this; they must believe that this is something useful to them. IT is a supporting element; it is not the driving element. What the clinicians want to do, what the doctors want to do must be the main objective and we want to support that," said Mr Chan Yeng Kit, Chief Executive Officer of IDA.

The new system, which is still in development, will provide family doctors access to their patients health screening results, medical treatments and the drugs they have been prescribed. With an aging population, such information sharing is becoming critical as more family doctors manage tertiary illnesses.

According to Mr Chan, presently there is no single IT vendor who is able to provide such an end-to-end integrated solution. "We are looking at solutions available and are in talks with several vendors to see what can be done," Mr Chan said. He also added that the IDA is working closely with MOH, doctors, clinicians and some IT vendors to develop an understanding of all issues involved, including those of security and privacy.

Mr Richard Granger, Director-General of IT, NHS (UK) Connecting for Health , relates his transformation story of the UK medical industry in 4 years through the use of infocomm technology

Overseas speakers at the conference were impressed with the strides the Singapore had already made in developing an integrated healthcare information system. Mr Richard Granger, Director General of IT for the NHS (UK) Connecting For Health, felt that Singaporeans could expect to reap the benefits of an integrated healthcare information system in the near future, due the efforts of organisations like IDA and MOH. NHS (UK) Connecting for Health was formed in 2005 as an agency of the Department of Health in the United Kingdom with the primary role of delivering the National Programme for IT (NPfIT).

The Healthcare IT Innovation Week also showcased healthcare innovations that were developed in Singapore and which benefited from the use of IT technologies. For example, remote monitoring of patients' vital signs in hospitals can be carried out using light wireless sensors that transmit information directly to computer servers for access through any authorised PCs. SingHealth, Singapore's largest healthcare group which offers multi-disciplinary and integrated medical care also present to demonstrate their Telecare system, which allows patients of chronic illnesses to submit their clinical measurements via web or SMS for monitoring, freeing them from frequent visits to clinics and even allowing many to travel overseas.

For more information:

• IDA actively engages healthcare institutions and the infocomm industry to develop innovative applications for the healthcare sector. Details can be found at the IDA Website.