SingHealth Community Hospitals (SCH), which introduced the novel model of care of social prescribing in its community hospitals since 2019, announced on 28 November that the institution has been appointed as the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Social Prescribing.
This appointment took effect from 14 November 2024 and is the first centre of its kind in the world. This is a prestigious recognition of SCH’s expertise and significant contributions in the field of social prescribing in the international arena.
In a speech at the inaugural Asia Pacific Population Health Conference and second Asia Pacific Social Prescribing Conference on Nov 28, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung noted the major changes to healthcare policies in Singapore over the past two years, centring around population health and social prescription.
Healthier SG was launched which mobilises private family physicians to connect their patients to social and fitness activities in communities.
Doctors meet with their patients and come up with a Health Plan which is essentially a set of social prescriptions.
There is now an inherent organisational motivation to work with family physicians and community partners to drive preventive care.
Singapore also effect changes through education. Take the consumption of sugar. Instead of a tax on sugar, Singapore decided to use education and work with the industry to put labels on soda drinks.
“I take a lot of encouragement in our Nutri-Grade labelling for sugar,” Minister Ong said. This has had a tremendous effect on both young and old, he said.
Our social prescribing efforts are cascading to individual institutions, including at SingHealth, Minister Ong said.
SingHealth has put social prescribing into practice since 2019, with the introduction of wellbeing coordinators at SingHealth Community Hospitals, Mr Ong said.
These are dedicated professionals who are incorporated into clinical teams to screen patients for social health risk factors. Patients with identified risks are then connected to interest groups and wellness activities in the community, which include gardening, singing, fitness groups etc. That way, we support their wellbeing post-discharge from the hospitals.
To support wider adoption of social prescribing nationwide, the SingHealth Community Hospitals Office of Learning (called ‘SCHOOL’) has worked with partners to roll out training programmes on social prescribing.
The programmes cater to a wide range of professionals, including General Practitioners, community care providers, social workers and volunteers.
More than 1,000 learners from the health and social care sectors have participated in these programmes and they will help us amplify the implementation of social prescription.
Singhealth’s appointment as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Social Prescribing – the first of its kind in the world – is an acknowledgement of Singhealth’s substantial work in social prescribing, said Minister Ong.
