Integrated community, acute hospital opens In Woodlands

Services will fully open in May 2024, with capacity for 1.800 beds to meet future needs

- Lee Li Ying

 

Singapore's newest integrated acute and community hospital, Woodlands Health, welcomed its first patients on Dec 22 with the opening of its specialist clinics and 40 community hospital beds.

The 7.7ha facility located at 17 Woodlands Drive 17 will fully open the rest of its services, including the emergency department and acute wards, in May 2024.

It will eventually have 1,000 acute and community beds, and almost 400 beds in its long-term care facility, with the capacity to expand to 1,800 beds to meet future needs.

Public hospitals in Singapore have been facing a bed crunch, in part due to the lingering impact of the pandemic. The Ministry of Health (MOH) has set a target to add 1,300 beds by the end of 2023 to alleviate the situation.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, as well as Sembawang GRC MPs Poh Li San and Lim Wee Kiak, and Marsiling-Yew Tee MP Hany Soh, were given a tour of the hospital facilities such as the medical centre, which is now open to patients.

Those with conditions such as asthma and diabetes will be able to access specialist outpatient services at the medical centre. The allied health team can also provide rehabilitation services, including speech therapy, physiotherapy and occupational therapy.

Woodlands Health is a facility with acute and community hospitals sharing the same building, so patients can be seamlessly moved from acute to step-down care with the same doctors in charge.