​The SingHealth Duke-NUS Transplant Centre was established in 2010, comprising all the transplant programmes within the SingHealth cluster under one roof.

The Transplant Centre consists of transplant physicians, psychologists, medical social workers, transplant coordinators, administrators, pharmacists and nutritionists coming together as healthcare professionals dedicated to the art and science of transplantation. This is a centre where the entry requirements are a passion and love for the practice of transplantation to benefit our patients.

ABOUT THE TRANSPLANT CENTRE

As part of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre, the Transplant Centre is now home to clinical research and expertise in transplant, with research and education capabilities to develop novel and educational activities for our programmes. In addition, it is also a strong advocate for organ donation.

The ‘under one roof’ philosophy has allowed us to relentlessly pursue the improvement of the quality of our programmes, as well as the survival rate and long-term outcomes. More importantly, it has allowed us to learn from each other and respond to the changing needs in transplantation.

United under the umbrella of the Transplant Centre, our transplant programmes were able to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in a timely and robust manner, allowing us to continue organ donation and transplantation safely for our patients.

ENHANCING CLINICAL SERVICES, QUALITY AND SAFETY

Since its inception, 12,884 transplants have been performed, giving new life and new hope to patients and families. In 2020, 445 transplants were performed and 15 deceased donor organ transplants were made possible by the gifts from eight donors.

Transplant care management is highly complex, involving clinical practitioners from multiple disciplines and diverse patient profiles. Leveraging the rapid development of data infrastructure, machine-learning modelling and the rich patient-level data repository in electronic medical records, we have launched a patient-centric transplant quality improvement initiative.

Data quality metric surveillance is applied to ensure accuracy in the patient journey by data mapping. This has been a result of the adoption of advanced data analytics to extract insights into potential interventions for improvement from our complex transplantation data.

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

The SingHealth Duke-NUS Transplant Centre has launched numerous research projects to enhance and expand our transplant services, research and talent pool. These research projects have provided answers to the unknown – filling gaps in knowledge and changing the way healthcare professionals work.

Examples of our efforts to push the frontiers of transplantation in Singapore include strategies for developing immune tolerance and a novel multivisceral research project.

EDUCATION AND ENGAGEMENT

Education and engagement involves transplant healthcare workers, patients and the public.

The Transplant Centre actively engages healthcare professionals and communities through educational activities including symposiums and educational seminars/workshops, both locally and regionally, to increase knowledge and awareness about transplant donation and advances in organ transplantation.

Informational videos and social media are some platforms used to reach out to our stakeholders. We also provide learning opportunities and educational resources to transplant healthcare professionals for training, as well as for those seeking continuing education.

Transplant outreach is a critical element to us. We strive to improve patient access for transplant information through community education, individualised information about treatment options and building strong relationships with community medical providers.