600 acute beds, expanded emergency department in the works for Tan Tock Seng Hospital

Some 600 additional acute beds and an expanded emergency department will be added to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) from 2030 and beyond to meet the needs of the residents in the region, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Tuesday (Sept 9). 

Other infrastructure upgrades will include more additional operating theatres, procedural suites, specialist outpatient clinics, and shorter transfers between care services - from acute hospital to step down care to discharge, added Ong at the unveiling of the second phase of the Health City Novena Master Plan. 

“The centrepiece of the phase 2 Master Plan is the proposed TTSH Medical Tower…This proposed Medical Tower will expand acute care capacity at a critical time when demand for secondary care is growing.

“It is envisioned to add around 600 acute beds and additional specialist outpatient clinics to TTSH,” said Ong. 

Supporting older resident population

For the more than 1.5 million residents of central and north Singapore, the expanded TTSH also means improved access and clinical care outcomes, said NHG Health in a media statement.

Currently, TTSH serves a higher-than-national-average proportion of seniors due to the number of mature estates in Ang Mo Kio, Balestier, Toa Payoh and Whampoa, said NHG Health.

"In 2023, the hospital's inpatients aged 65 and above were 1.5 times that of the national norms for males and 2.2 times for females," said the healthcare provider.

To meet the needs of seniors in TTSH's region, this phase of the development will transform the campus into a frailty-ready one, including the expansion and proposed relocation of its Emergency Department to the Medical Tower.

“If we do so, the Emergency Department could have direct access to operating theatres, specialist outpatient clinics and procedural suites for faster triage,” said Ong.

NHG Health said that TTSH has been managing more than 125,000 emergency cases annually in the past three years, with about 40 per cent of these patients aged 65 and above. 

The expanded TTSH will also support the Healthier SG national initiative by the Ministry of Health (MOH) through timely intervention - by providing patients with faster access to high-acuity support, including transiting between primary, tertiary and community care with shorter wait times.

Smart technologies to enhance care delivery and better support Singapore's aging population will also be deployed at the new Medical Tower. 

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NHG Health first announced plans for the 17-hectare Health City Novena in 2013. It was envisioned to be an integrated, future-ready healthcare ecosystem. 

Under the first phase of Health City Novena, five new developments - Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine's clinical sciences building, Ng Teng Fong Centre for Healthcare Innovation, National Centre for Infectious Diseases, National Skin Centre, and the TTSH Integrated Care Hub - have been delivered.

This second phase will involve the former Communicable Disease Centre 2 and Annex 2 building sites.

Existing specialist outpatient clinics, laboratories and offices will be moved to the temporary facilities at the former Pavilion Wards, with one of the wards to be retained. 

“We will retain one of the Pavilion Wards - Block 505, and incorporate it into the new development.

“It will remind future generations of how far we have come, and how care has evolved,” said Ong. 

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editor@asiaone.com