With telehealth, patients recuperating at home can have convenient and timely access to medical advice.

As Singapore prepares itself for our rapidly ageing population, telehealth will be a key enabler behind strategies that are being adopted to enable “ageing-in-place”. In line with this, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), in collaboration with Ministry of Health, has issued a Telehealth Call for Collaboration (CFC) to develop new models of distance care for the elderly – at home, within the community or at institutions such as nursing homes - assisted by information and communications technology (ICT).

It is estimated that by 2030, one in five Singaporeans will be over 65 years old. Faced with this scenario, a different pattern of healthcare will be required – one which features an integrated healthcare delivery system with “right-sited” care, better allocation of resources and more cost-effective treatment and care in the healthcare continuum.

In a speech at the 4th Health Informatics Summit in July last year, Minister for Health Mr Gan Kim Yong said, “We need to systematically align the whole spectrum of healthcare services, from primary care, tertiary care, to intermediate and long-term care around the patient to achieve our goal of patient-centred care.”

Mr Gan added that advancements in ICT will enable Singapore to do more in this area. For example, the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network will make it possible for healthcare to be delivered right to the patient's home via services such as telehealth.

Telehealth will greatly increase convenience and access to timely advice and will also reduce costs, both medical and non-medical, by cutting down on duplicate or unnecessary tests as well as medication errors and transport expenses, said Mr Gan.

There are many potential uses for telehealth. For example, physical visits by doctors to newly-discharged patients at nursing homes can be replaced by video conferencing when the patients’ conditions stabilise, with the doctors providing guidance to on-site nurses. For home care, patients can be monitored by nurses/therapists, with guidance provided by doctors via video conferencing. Group therapy for clients at nursing homes and elderly day facilities can also be conducted virtually across multiple facilities for better economies of scale.

The objectives of the Telehealth CFC are to encourage healthcare providers to review existing care models and care processes, and to collaborate with industry players who can provide innovation through telehealth technologies; to ensure sustainability through appropriate change management, manpower training and benefits measurement; and to demonstrate viable business models for longer term deployment of telehealth services.

The CFC highlights three perspectives to telehealth. They are:

• The clinical perspective, which involves screening, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring, and is often referred to as “Telemedicine”;
• The educational/training perspective, which is aimed at enhancing the health knowledge of patients and caregivers in order to achieve better quality of care – either self-managed or administered by the caregiver;
• The administrative perspective, which is focused on enhancing the efficiency and productivity of health workers and patients by coordinating efforts and resources across distances.

A Telehealth CFC Public Briefing will be held on 12 April 2012 to provide interested participants with the details of the CFC. Healthcare providers will be invited to share some potential areas of care which could be enhanced using telehealth from their care delivery perspectives.

A separate Networking Session will be held on 27 April 2012 to allow ICT vendors to explore collaboration opportunities with healthcare providers and to brainstorm on innovative telehealth solutions. Closing date for the CFC is 6 July 2012. For more information, email [email protected] .