Improving access to outpatient cardiac care at the national heart centre--a partnership between specialists and primary care.
- Author:
Shiou Liang WEE
1
;
Bernard W K KWOK
;
Chee Beng TAN
;
Terrance S J CHUA
Author Information
1. Quality Management Department, Singapore Health Services Pte Ltd, Singapore.
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH:
Ambulatory Care Facilities;
Cardiology;
Cardiovascular Diseases;
therapy;
Cooperative Behavior;
Efficiency, Organizational;
Health Services Accessibility;
Health Services Needs and Demand;
Humans;
Primary Health Care;
Referral and Consultation;
trends;
Singapore
- From:Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore
2008;37(2):151-157
- CountrySingapore
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Ensuring timely access to specialist care is an important indicator of the quality of a health service. Demand for cardiology outpatient appointments has grown considerably in the last decade, leading to increased waiting time for cardiology appointments at public hospitals. This paper examines the effectiveness of past and ongoing strategies initiated by the National Heart Centre, many of which were in collaboration with SingHealth Polyclinics, documents the lessons learnt, and provides a framework for approaching this problem. Instead of a simplistic approach where institutions react to long waiting times by growing capacity to meet demand, this paper emphasises the need to focus on the final intended outcome (timely diagnosis and treatment) rather than on a single performance indicator, such as waiting time. A broad systems approach at the national level is advocated, rather than piecemeal, uncoordinated actions by individual hospitals.
