SINGAPORE – Community health posts will offer enhanced services from 2026, starting with those in the north of Singapore where there is a higher prevalence of chronic illness, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung.
He also said five more community health posts will open in Sembawang, Woodlands and Yishun in 2026, pushing the total number of these posts in the north, under NHG Health, from 34 to 39.
To help residents better manage their health and prevent diseases, the health posts will operate once a week and offer more services, such as frailty screening as well as telehealth consultations.
Most of the community health posts under NHG Health now operate on an appointment basis, with some opening once a week and others every fortnight or every month.
The plan is for all the 39 posts to operate once a week and also be able to see patients without appointments, Mr Ong said on Oct 12 at an event in Sembawang.
A community health post should be a place where residents can walk in to ask about their medication and follow up on their healthcare plan to find out when their next vaccination or health screening is, for instance, he said.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) will also connect community health posts with a telehealth service, so that patients can be connected to see a doctor for advice when necessary.
“All in all, this is something we are going to do actively next year. It will strengthen the community health support, population health interventions in the north of Singapore,” said Mr Ong, who is also Coordinating Minister for Social Policies.
“We will also want to implement it in the Age Well Neighbourhoods that we talked about, starting in Toa Payoh, which is also under NHG, but the other two clusters are also actively looking at it.”
He was speaking at the annual health fiesta held at Kampung Admiralty by Sembawang GRC and Sembawang West Grassroots Organisations’ Malay Activity Executive Committees.
Community health posts, which offer health services and monitoring, are run by public hospitals and mostly located at active ageing centres. They are manned by nurses and other community care personnel.
“I will foresee the residents may come to see the nurse clinician and the team, and whatever question they have, the nurse should be able to settle nine out of 10 easily, but there may be one… that may be a bit more complicated that requires clinicians’ intervention. That’s when telehealth can come in,” said Mr Ong.
He added that the enhancement of these posts will be done as soon as possible.
About 70 per cent of those who signed up for Healthier SG have completed their health plan consultation. The next step is to strengthen the ground support with these community health posts for the period between check-ins with their doctor.
Dr Chen Wei Ting, clinical director of community health at NHG Health, who was at the health fiesta, told the media that a regular team of community nurses and health coaches will attend to residents at the enhanced posts.
These familiar faces at the posts will be able to help residents age better in the community. For instance, if a patient comes in for a frailty screening and needs mobility aids, the nurse can also advise on that, Dr Chen said.
The annual health fiesta was held at Kampung Admiralty on Oct 12.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
There will be regular health workshops where residents can learn to manage chronic diseases, as well as other services such as group coaching for this issue and frailty management.
On Oct 12, Mr Ong also said MOH will work with the Health Promotion Board to step up the offerings of physical activities in the north.
