Eastern Health Alliance (

Abbreviation An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

: CGH;

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

: 东部医疗联盟; ms, Gabungan Perkhidmatan Kesihatan Timur) was a regional health system in the east of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

History

The Eastern Health Alliance was officially launched on 18 November 2011 by founding members

Changi General Hospital Changi General Hospital (abbreviation: CGH) is a 1000-bed hospital located in Simei, eastern Singapore. It is Singapore's first purpose-built general hospital to serve communities in the east and north-east regions. The hospital has more than 23 ...

, St. Andrew's Community Hospital, SingHealth Polyclinics and The Salvation Army Peacehaven Nursing Home. This was in line with the national direction to make healthcare ongoing rather than episodic, especially for people with chronic conditions like

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

, and

lung The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of t ...

and

heart diseases Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, hea ...

. Guided by its vision, "Towards seamless quality care – together", it sought to gradually reshape Singapore's model of

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

to meet the challenges of a growing and ageing population. In Jan 2018, the Eastern Health Alliance merged with

SingHealth Singapore Health Services (SingHealth) is Singapore's largest group of healthcare institutions. The group was formed in 2000 and consists of four public hospitals, three community hospitals, five national specialty centres and a network of eig ...

as part of a public health restructuring exercise.

Integrated care programmes

The Eastern Health Alliance was focused on delivering a range of healthcare services, from early detection,

disease prevention Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, consists of measures taken for the purposes of disease prevention.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental hea ...

and management, through to ongoing care. It developed a range of integrated care programmes for the people of eastern Singapore.

Eastern Community Health Outreach

A community-based

chronic disease A chronic condition is a health condition or disease that is persistent or otherwise long-lasting in its effects or a disease that comes with time. The term ''chronic'' is often applied when the course of the disease lasts for more than three mo ...

prevention programme offered in partnership with grassroots organisations. The programme included health screenings,

health coaching Health coaching is the use of evidence-based skillful conversation, clinical interventions and strategies to actively and safely engage client/patients in health behavior change. Health coaches are certified or credentialed to safely guide clients a ...

and healthy lifestyle activities, which aim to intervene early to delay the onset of chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Health Management Unit

The Health Management Unit is set up to assist patients who need help to manage their long-term conditions. These patients received advice from nurse tele-carers on medication, diet and lifestyle, how to monitor their condition and look out for signs of deterioration, helping them stay healthy for as long as possible. Those who needed more help would receive further guidance and support in between medical visits.

Community Health Centre

The Community Health Centre support general practitioners by providing services for patients with long-term conditions. Services included eye screening, foot screening, health monitoring and education about diet, lifestyle and medication. The first centre, located in

Tampines Tampines () is the regional centre of the East Region of Singapore. With a population of 265,340 living across its five subzones, it is the second-most populous planning area in Singapore, according to the DOS Population Trends 2022. It is h ...

, was helmed by senior nurses and allied health professionals with experience in caring for patients with chronic conditions.

Changi General Hospital-St. Andrew’s Community Hospital partnership

The positioning of St. Andrew's Community Hospital (SACH) right next to

(CGH) enabled a transfer of care for more than 4,000 patients since 2005. Patients who no longer require

acute care Acute care is a branch of secondary health care where a patient receives active but short-term treatment for a severe injury or episode of illness, an urgent medical condition, or during recovery from surgery.Alberta Health ServicesAcute care.Acces ...

were transferred to SACH for rehabilitation and continuing medical care. SACH and CGH are connected by a covered link bridge. This close proximity helps facilitate better coordinated and integrated care for SACH patients through the sharing of medical records and clinical support services, and consultations by visiting CGH specialists.

Transitional Care

Transitional Care helps to bridge the gap between hospital and home for patients with complex or multiple care needs. It aimed to stabilise, rehabilitate, and help patients and their caregivers cope with care at home. It also aimed to reduce unnecessary re-admissions to the hospital. The Transitional Care team comprised doctors, nurses, therapists,

dietitians A dietitian, medical dietitian, or dietician is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition and in conducting medical nutrition therapy, for example designing an enteral tube feeding regimen or mitigating the effects of ca ...

, pharmacists and medical social workers.

Grace Corner

A facility set up in The Salvation Army

Peacehaven Peacehaven is a town and civil parish in the Lewes district of East Sussex, England. It is located above the chalk cliffs of the South Downs approximately six miles () east of Brighton city centre, on the A259 road. Its site coincides with the ...

Nursing Home to provide rehabilitation services for patients with long-term debilitating conditions, and training for caregivers. Medical and nursing services, as well as lifestyle activities are provided. The aim was for patients to be fit enough to return home and integrate back into the community.

Home Care Service

St. Andrew's Community Hospital's Home Care Service attended to the nursing needs of patients residing in the east. These patients were discharged from acute care hospitals or community hospitals and usually have medical histories of strokes, fractures and multiple diseases. Common nursing care provided to them included changing their urinary catheters; nasalgastric tubes for feeding, wound care, dressings, and removal of stitches after a surgery.

References

External links

Eastern Health Alliance
- official website
Launch of the Eastern Health Alliance
- official video {{Singapore hospitals Medical and health organisations based in Singapore Singaporean companies established in 2011 2011 establishments in Singapore 2018 disestablishments in Singapore