“Fundamentally re-designing the way to organise our healthcare system is the game-changer. This is not the work of clinicians alone, but requires all hands on deck,”

  • Administrators a "potent force" for healthcare transformation
  • Senior administrators must mentor younger colleagues
  • Challenged to take the big forces sweeping Singapore Healthcare

Tomorrow’s Medicine brings you highlights from the Singapore Healthcare Management Congress 2015. 
 

Healthcare administrators, you have a greater role in improving lives than you think you do. In her opening address at Singapore Healthcare Management 2015, Mrs Tan Ching Yee had a rallying call – “Re-invent our world”.

 

Comprising more than 30% of the healthcare workforce, the contributions and achievements of administrators is nothing to be scoffed at. Citing the example of the SingHealth Group Procurement Office, she illustrated how the office set up in 2000 sources drugs and supplies at the most competitive prices to help drive cost effectiveness.

 

“Every dollar saved is an additional dollar that can be used for patient care or staff development,” she emphasised.

 

The significant impact of healthcare administrators can also be seen through the many submissions for the poster competition, with a total of 220 posters depicting projects across the domain areas of service quality, human resource, risk management, finance, operations and communications.

 

Looking at the wide spectrum of innovation projects from the posters, Mrs Tan calls healthcare administrators a “potent force”, working alongside clinicians to ensure high standards of care delivery to keep the population healthy.

 

With people living longer, falling birth rates and changing disease patterns, the mission to maintain a healthy nation can be challenging. Add in rising expectations and an increasing empathetic people to the mix and you get quite the uphill climb. One that Mrs Tan has no qualms embarking.

 

“Fundamentally re-designing the way to organise our healthcare system is the game-changer. This is not the work of clinicians alone, but requires all hands on deck,” she said.

 

And Mrs Tan states her case, taking successful examples used in the Canterbury Health System from New Zealand and the renowned Geisinger Health System based in Pennsylvania. System change is possible, and she has three approaches for administrators to be part of the transformation - think systems, think lean, join hands.

 

A big picture view, with people working hand-in-hand maximising the available resources, is the key to our future.