The Ng Teng Fong Healthcare Innovation Programme (NTF HIP) was established in 2015, with a $52 million funding from the family of the late Mr. Ng Teng Fong. The aim of the programme is to drive value through healthcare innovation, training, and support improvements to patient care.
To date, NTF HIP has supported 129 innovation projects, 12 community enabling projects and 56 training projects. These are subcategorised into 5 tracks with selected updates below:
Track 1 - Strategic Training
The FY2023 Fellowship is a 19-week signature programme organised by the Centre for Healthcare Innovation (CHI). Merging practice- and project-based learning, it combines professional development, personalized mentorship, peer, and experiential co-learning as well as immersive experience within Singapore’s and overseas innovative healthcare systems.
The programme received positive feedback from participants for the diversity of the programme topics, comprehensive depth, and broad coverage of learning experience. The participants also valued the opportunities to network with innovators and partners from overseas.
Track 2 - Innovation
The Medication Coach (MedCoach) project addresses the challenge of patients having to manage multiple chronic medications in Singapore by developing a self-help tool for drug identification and easy access of drug information.
The proof of concept (POC) project aims to create a simple system that enables patients to identify medications and obtain reliable drug information in their preferred language. It also includes features such as identifying drug types up to an accuracy rate of 83%, whose primary packaging may have been changed.
MedCoach was presented to Minister Ong at CHI Innovate with media coverage on Vasantham channel.
The team's next plan is to evaluate the value of MedCoach by conducting a Proof of Value, which involves enhancing the existing proof of concept (POC) elements.
This includes developing a database to link medication administration regimes to timing schedules, creating medication reminder capabilities with tracking functions, and designing a user interface to demonstrate all the features of MedCoach for both patients and caregivers to use.
Track 3 - Community Enabling
The Allied Health Congress was organised bi-annually by Centre for Allied Health and Pharmacy Excellence (CAPE) and took place on 2 Nov 2023.
Participants gained insights on state-of-the-art technology and practices. Through the sharing and discussions in the areas of Community Care, Technology-enabled Care and Workforce Transformation, participants also learnt how Allied Health Professionals and Pharmacists have and can work with a community of carers to envision future models of care for Population Health.
The event also hoped to inspire participants to continuously innovate their roles and care models as future-ready healthcare professionals.
Track 4 - Strategic Innovation Programmes (SIP)
Wards Without Walls (WoW) was a project funded under the strategic innovation track that encourages emergency department consultation, triage and referral to hospitals to be done in the comfort of the patient’s own home.
In doing so, this enables care to reach beyond the hospital walls, into the community which transforms the current care paradigm that is fragmented, reactive and transactional.
Track 5 - Strategic Research Programmes (SRP)
Started in November 2023, the Precision in Cancer Prevention programme aims to gain better insight and stratify the management of individuals with a higher-than-average risk of breast, colorectal and gastric cancers without subjecting them to unnecessary procedures.
In The News
$52 million charity fund to raise standards of patient care
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