Message by CEO

We have chosen to use the NHG vision statement 'Adding Years of Healthy Life' as the theme for our 1st Population Health Management Conference. This is with the intent of reminding and challenging ourselves to go back to the fundamentals of healthcare, that is, to focus beyond illness care to pre-illness and post-illness care. It calls for a paradigm shift such that resources, systems and processes are organised around patients and the population we serve, rather than based on organisational considerations and expediency.

Defining Health: Creating New Knowledge

Health is not merely the absence of disease, the freedom from sickness, but a multifaceted dimension of human life that encompasses wholeness and well-being - physical, mental and social. Most people think that they are in excellent health because they have no known health problems. We tend to see ourselves as well until we are seriously sick. The truth is, being symptom free is really not the same as being optimally healthy. The health of a person cannot be judged solely by the need for treatment.

Effective healthcare starts with prevention. While the traditional healthcare delivery system is valuable for treating individuals, it is relatively ineffective for those who desire to prevent health adversity. Both pre-emptive approaches, as well as new knowledge need to be created to actively support and enable people to increase control over and improve their health.

System Thinking

The misperception of the healthcare system being seen as the determinant and owner of health needs to be corrected. As the Health Minister has explained, "health outcome is a personal matter. Doctors and nurses can only point the way forward; the patient must play his part by dropping bad habits, adopting a healthy lifestyle and complying with his doctor's prescription."

Going forward, the healthcare system needs to shift from providing care for the sick individual to preventing sickness by advocating health, to build a system of care that keeps the population healthy, so that they make proactive choices toward optimal health. We need to change our mindset to understand that ageing and illness are not synonymous; achievement of good health is possible by engaging and empowering the population to own and manage their health. As a public cluster, NHG has to transform itself for its new role in population health management.

Engagement and Collaborations

Improvement of health is a massive and shared responsibility, NHG or any other healthcare provider cannot work in isolation, as health is an outcome of multiple complex biological, psychological and social factors. We need to integrate services across the continuum and establish inter-sectoral partnerships so that the efforts of stakeholders can be better coordinated.

This conference serves as a good platform for us to gain new insights about issues related to wellness, prevention and care/disease management and discuss strategies to reduce preventable disease and improve health. Only with that will we be able to collectively and collaboratively take action to contribute to and improve the health of our population.

We look forward to and welcome your participation in our inaugural Population Health Management Conference.