MOH to ramp up use of apps, robotics to improve home care: Health … – Channel NewsAsia

By the end of the year, all Singaporeans can use a new app to call for a nurse and order home care supplies, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong announced on Tuesday (May 30).

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SINGAPORE: By the end of the year, all Singaporeans can use a new app to call for a nurse and order home care supplies, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong announced on Tuesday (May 30).

The application, called Health MarketPlace, was one of several technology-driven initiatives mentioned by Mr Gan in his speech at the annual National Health IT Summit held at the Singapore Expo on Tuesday.

Now in itspilot phase, Health MarketPlace will be scaled up by the end of the year. Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and KK Womens and Childrens Hospital (KKH) are among the healthcare providers currently participating in the pilot.

The hospitals told Channel NewsAsia the app currently matches a nurse to a patient according to location. For example, a nurse can head to a patients house to do a wound dressing or change his or her urinary catheter on her way to and from work. The nurse then keys in her observations in the app, so other nurses who care for this patient are aware of the person's condition.

About 140 nurses from SGH and KKH are on the programme and have completed close to 75 patient visits since April 2016, the hospitals said.

The Health Marketplace is just one of the many projects the Ministry of Health (MOH) will be ramping up under its Health IT Master Plan.

With funding support from the National Robotics Programme, the Health Ministry will support the trial use of robotics in healthcare, Mr Gan said.

We intend to develop prototypes of smart wards integrated with smart logistics for what we hope will be hospitals of the future. In line with the shift beyond hospitals to the community, we will also look into robotics-assisted home care.

NEW PLATFORM TO MONITOR VITAL SIGNS REMOTELY

The minister said in his speech that another area the authorities are looking into is enabling more productive telehealth service delivery models.

In addition to the recently rolled-out national platforms for video consultation and tele-rehab solutions, a vital signs monitoring platform will also be launched later this year. This will allow the remote monitoring of patients'vital signs such as blood pressure, blood glucose or weight of patients with conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and heart or pulmonary diseases.

Patients can, in turn, receive more timely advice and intervention to manage their conditions without having to schedule an appointment to visit the hospital, according to the Health Minister.

"As a whole, the use of the vital signs monitoring platform can enable more regular monitoring, improve patient management and reduce hospital visits and re-admissions," he said.

In his speech, Mr Gan also renewed calls for private healthcare providers to digitalise their records to join the National Electronic Health Record (NEHR). At present, more than 760,000 patient record searches are made monthly, he said, adding that there was a need "to go further and faster".

"There is immense potential in harnessing health data for research, more effective policy and programme development, better-targeted care interventions and treatments, more productive practices and expanded outreach," he said.

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