MEDIA RELEASE

Singapore, 26 August 2023 – In commemorating 88 years of trusted care for the community in 2023, Changi General Hospital (CGH) staff and its community partners joined hands to put together Singapore's largest community mural made of photobricks under the Singapore Book of Records, with a total of 264,292 photobricks.

2         Conceptualised by CGH, the community mural symbolises the collective strengths and efforts of CGH staff and its partners in contributing to better health and healthcare. About 350 staff and community partners, including grassroots representatives, St. Andrew's Community Hospital, Agency for Integrated Care, Singapore Prison Service, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Peacehaven Nursing Home contributed to the making of the community mural, which comprises 105 panels and measures 6m by 2.8m.

3         The community mural was unveiled today by Guest-of-Honour, Mr Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies and Adviser to East Coast Group Representation Constituency (GRC) Grassroots Organisations (GROs), with fellow East Coast GRC GROs advisers, Mr Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information and Ministry of National Development, Ms Jessica Tan and Ms Cheryl Chan in attendance.

4         Professor Ng Wai Hoe, Chief Executive Officer, CGH, said: "CGH has made remarkable progress over 88 years, with a longstanding legacy of care that dates back to 1935. Like each photobrick on CGH's 88^th Anniversary community mural, each and every healthcare professional and planner – past and present – contributed to the growth of the Caring General Hospital as the trusted care partner. Today, it is ranked amongst the world's smart, best and specialised hospitals.

5         "In transforming care delivery and innovating healthcare for tomorrow, CGH collaborates closely and widely within and beyond healthcare to cross-share expertise, co-innovate and co-develop approaches to benefit patients and the community. We are grateful for the deep and lasting collaborations forged with our partners over the years. Together, we are stronger in creating new solutions and pathways to advance the care of our community and patients, for better health and healthcare for Singapore and the world."

6         With a rich heritage of clinical excellence and care by a multi-disciplinary, dedicated team of healthcare professionals for the community, CGH traces its roots back to 1935 when the British Royal Air Force Hospital (RAF) was built within the naval base at Changi. Recognised as a healing place conducive for recuperation, RAF had undergone transformation during the Second World War and post-war to eventually become Changi Hospital in 1976.

7         In 1959, Thomson Road Hospital was opened to meet the growing demand for medical services in Singapore. Renamed Toa Payoh Hospital in 1975, the acute hospital served the then new towns including Toa Payoh, Ang Mo Kio, Yishun, Serangoon and Bishan to meet rapidly growing healthcare needs.

8         With the introduction of more medical services and increasing patients, Toa Payoh Hospital and Changi Hospital merged and moved to the site in Simei in 1997, where CGH stands today. View CGH's heritage timeline here.

Transforming health and population outcomes, innovating healthcare for tomorrow

9         With an increasing ageing population in Singapore, more senior patients will require more care and resources. As a smart hospital with a key focus on research, innovation, enterprise and education, CGH has consistently leveraged technology like robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digitalisation to enhance its care for patients in the hospital and in the community, while improving productivity for healthcare workers and reducing reliance on human efforts to carry out heavy duty or repetitive tasks.

10         BLANKi or Blanket Delivery innovation, which made a delivery at the unveiling event, is one of the robots deployed at CGH's Emergency Department and is amongst CGH's suite of over 80 robots. Designed to complement our care team, these robots are deployed on the CGH campus for various tasks, ranging from social robots, robotic therapy for rehabilitation, gait assessment robots and surgical robots to autonomous mobile robots for delivery of meals, medication and patient specimens, and cleaning. CGH also plans to progressively deploy robots to deliver surgical items and consumables to its operating theatres and specialist outpatient clinics.

11         Recognising AI as an important tool that is rapidly deployable in healthcare, CGH developed the Community Acquired Pneumonia and COVID-19 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Predictive Engine (CAPE), which determines the likelihood of whether the patient has mild or severe pneumonia, based on the chest X-ray image. Medical teams can receive an early warning for possible clinical deterioration and prescribe the appropriate interim measures to improve patient outcomes. CGH is one of the pilot sites for AIM SG, a new platform to enable the rapid development, testing and deployment of imaging AI models such as CAPE. It is also making its foray into digital twin technology to guide workflow redesign to meet evolving needs and forecast resources required for various scenarios.

12         CGH took off in non-traditional healthcare areas to extend its reach in and care for the community. In 2019, CGH set up the Changi Aviation Medicine Centre, Singapore's first aviation medicine centre driven by a restructured acute hospital, offering customised care for pilots, cabin crew and air traffic control staff. The hospital also took over the medical care, performance testing, and aviation physiology training of The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) pilots and aircrew recently.

13         From January 2022, CGH took over the direct clinical care of inmates at Changi Prison, and is leading the Correctional Medicine programme with SingHealth Polyclinics to professionalise the practice, achieve evidence-based and quality care effectively, and help ensure the continuity of care post-release which plays a pivotal role in social rehabilitation.

14         A forerunner in population health efforts, CGH is active in educating and engaging the community on preventive care and empowering the community to build a Healthier SG. CGH-pioneered programmes such as Neighbours for Active Living, Careline, EAGLEcare (Enhancing Community Care for Frail Elderly in the End of Life), and GPFirst helped to right-site care and ensure continuity of care for the community. CGH also works closely with St. Andrew's Community Hospital in rehabilitative and sub-acute care for the community, and nursing homes like The Salvation Army Peacehaven Nursing Home to care for its residents and patients following their discharge.

15         Dr Loh Yik Hin, Chief Executive Officer, St. Andrew's Community Hospital (SACH), said, "Since SACH moved to Simei in 2005 to become the first Community Hospital to be co-located with an acute care hospital, our partnership with CGH has always been front and centre of all that we do to provide care for the community. The vast majority of our clinical services wrap around CGH's patients that are transferred to us for inpatient, outpatient, home and day care. During the pandemic, we worked closely as a single Simei Campus team to overcome the many COVID-19 challenges and protect patients, community and staff. And now, we are pulling together even more closely.  We both will continuously innovate and experiment to improve our care and services so that the community entrusted to us can age-in-place and age healthily."

16         Mr Tan Kwang Cheak, Chief Executive Officer, Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), said, "We would like to congratulate CGH on their 88th anniversary today! AIC has been working closely with CGH over the years to improve care for patients and seniors out of the hospital and into the community, such as partnership with CareLine, a 24/7 personal care phone service, and on the Health Up! programme that encourages residents to stay healthy. As the number of seniors grow in Singapore, there is much more that AIC and our partners can and need to do together. We look forward to strengthening our collaborations with CGH and together, we can empower Singaporeans and seniors to live and age well within their communities."

17         Dr Noorul Fatha As'at, Chief Medical Officer, Singapore Prison Service, said, "As effective reintegration into society requires good health, we have been working with CGH to deliver quality primary and specialist care to inmates, who are part of our community. It has been rewarding to see the inmates regain their health and be able to contribute to society upon their release."

18         Mdm Low Mui Lang, Executive Director, The Salvation Army Peacehaven Nursing Home, said, "Peacehaven Nursing Home has been working with CGH since 2004 to provide medical services for our nursing home residents. We look forward to a stronger partnership to reach out to the community as we move towards a Healthier SG."

Building Your Legacy of Health and Wellness

19         As CGH celebrates its 88 years of trusted care, it has also curated 88 gems for self-care and health for the community in the "Your Legacy of Wellness" booklet, which provides 88 daily tips to enhance mental and physical wellness for better health and wellbeing. These serve as timely reminders to individuals that they can be empowered to make lifestyle adjustments to sustain healthier habits, in line with Healthier SG. View here for the flipbook version of the booklet.

20         To date, CGH's 88^th anniversary fundraising efforts have raised over S$1.8 million.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and CGH CEO Prof Ng Wai Hoe applaud as Singapore’s largest community mural, made up of more than 264, 292 photobricks, was unveiled this morning.

Advisers to East Coast GRC GROs graced CGH 88th Anniversary Community Mural Unveiling.

CGH showed appreciation to its partners at the CGH 88th Anniversary Community Mural, which symbolises the collective strengths and efforts of CGH staff and its partners in contributing to better health and healthcare.

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